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(iEiMKKAl. ANDREW JACKSON 



i^ontispiei 



General Andrew Jackson 



HERO OF NEW ORLEANS 

AND 

SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BY 



OLIVER DYER, 

I) 

Author of '' Great Senators of the United States y" " Character 

Sketch of Henry IV. Grady," ''Life and Writ- 

ings of George Bancroft,'^ etc. 






WITH ILLUSTJ&itTTOim MUM. M. EATON, 




7 1891 



NEW YORK: 
ROBERT BONNER'S SONS, 

1891. 






Copyright, 1891, 
BY KOBERT BONNER'S SONS. 



{All rights reserved.) 



tee 



fUESO OP 

THE NEW YORK LEDGER, 

NEW YORK. 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 



CHAPTER I. 



HEROES— CHILDHOOD OF A HERO. 

NY boy or any man, 
however poor and 
humble, or however 
rich and exalted, 
wants to be a hero. 
r' Every girl and 
every woman, how- 
ever lowly and ob- 
scure, or however 
fashionable and fortun- 
ate, wants to be a hero- 
ine and have a hero for 
her lover and husband; 
and the bride who mar- 
ries for love thinks she 
has him — at least, until 
the honeymoon has 
passed. Any boy or 
man, any girl or wo- 
man, who has this vol- 
ume in hand and is 
reading these words, feels the force of the truths' 
they express, and longs to be a hero or heroine, 




8 General Andrew Jackson. 

aspires to do something grand and noble, and would 
gladly win a place among the illustrious men or the 
honored women of the world. 

Because every human being thus wishes to become 
great and good and noble, according to his or her 
standard of greatness, goodness and nobleness, there 
is not a boy or girl, not a man or a woman who does 
not sympathize with the struggles and the triumphs 
of heroes and heroines, and love to read the history 
of their lives. And so I am encouraged in the hope 
that everybody who sees it will enjoy the reading 
of the life-story which I am about to tell them of 
one of the greatest heroes who ever lived in this 
world, and who is known to history and to fame as 
Andrew Jackson, Judge Jackson, Senator Jackson, 
General Jackson, President Jackson, Old Hickory 
Jackson. 

This celebrated hero was born in poverty and 
obscurity. It is doubtful if there is a boy or a girl 
who will read this story of Andrew Jackson's life 
who is as poor as he was in his childhood, or who is 
encountering as great obstacles as he encountered, 
or suffering hardships and privations as bitter as 
those which he suffered. But, fortunately, poverty, 
obstacles, hardships and privations are not the worst 
things which can befall a child of destiny. The}^ 
are, in fact, more likely to be blessings than mis- 
fortunes. 

" Cast the bantling on the rocks. 
Suckle him with the she wolf's teat ; 
Wintered with the hawk and fox. 
Power and speed be hands and feet." 



Heroes — CJiildhood of a Hero. 



The old stories of Romulus and Remus suckled 
by a wolf and Cyrus the Great by a goat, are sym- 
bolic representations of the great truth that expo- 
sure and hardship and danger are sometimes the best 
things which can be provided for young immortals. 
It was certainly so in the case of our poor boy, 
Andrew Jackson ; and because he lived his life, and 
fought his fight, and conquered fate, and blazed a 
path from poverty and obscurity to greatness and 
renown, this land for which he fought and which he 
loved so well, has been a better land for poor boys 
and poor girls, and is now a better land for every 
struggling boy or girl, for every toiling man or 
woman, than it would have been had Andrew Jack- 
son not thus lived and fought and conquered. And 
now let us read the story of this poor boy's life, and 
see how it was that he became the idolized hero of 
his native land. 



Andrew Jackson was born near the Waxhaw 
settlement, in what is now Union County, North 
Carolina, on March 15, 1767, nine years before the 
Declaration of Independence was given to the 
world. His father died a few days before Andrew 
was born. In obscurity had he lived, and in 
obscurity was he buried. Mrs. Jackson, with her 
fatherless little boys, rode to the graveyard in the 
wagon that carried her husband's rude coffin. 

The bereaved widow was left without a protector 
and in absolute poverty. Obliged to abandon her 
desolate and squalid home in the wilderness, she 
took refuge, with her two little sons, Hugh and 



lO Gcnc7'al Andrciu Jackson, 



Robert, in the house of a hospitable friend, and 
there awaited the birth of her third child. 

It was a pitiful case. Andrew's father (after 
whom the new-born infant was named) had come 
from Carrickfergus, in the north of Ireland, two 
years before (1765), inspired by the hope that he 
would be able to make a home for his family in the 
American wilderness. Being too poor to buy land, 
even at the low price at which it was then sold, he 
built a cabin on land that was not his own, and set 
at work to chop and plough out a farm for himself. 
But dying prematurely and suddenly, he left his 
little family without a home, and they were com- 
pelled (as stated above) to seek refuge with friends 
who had come from their native land with the 
Jacksons. 

A pitiful case it was, most certainly ; but our little 
germ of a hero had got into the world ; and when 
we think of it, there was much in that. Without 
that, nothing would have been possible for him ; 
with that, God willing, everything was possible. 
Yet when we look back to those far-away days, 
and in imagination gaze upon that little child born 
in poverty so squalid and in obscurity so dense, it 
seems well-nigh miraculous that such a poor little 
creature should have come to fill so large a space in 
tlie world's history — should, in fact, have become 
the hinge on which his country's destiny was to 
swing for many years. When the Mayfloiver was 
launched she was as obscure as Andrew Jackson 
was in his infancy. The Mayflower might have 
sailed the seas for years, carrying merchandise, 
without impressing her name upon the minds and 



Heroes — Childhood of a Hero, ii 

the hearts of mankind. It was the freight she car- 
ried and the use she pwformed on her memorable 
voyage in 1620, which gave her immortality. She 
was then freighted with the embodied principles of 
religious and political liberty, and was the instru- 
ment for transplanting them to a soil where they 
could take root, and grow beyond the fondest 
dreams of their advocates ; and for these reasons 
her name became as imperishable as the incarnated 
principles which she brought to the shores of the 
Western World. As with ships, so -with babies; 
whether they win an immortality of fame depends 
on the freight of principle and character they carry 
on the voyage of life, and the uses to which their 
lives are devoted. Owing to his mother's religious 
teaching and example and her ardent patriotism, 
our Waxhaw boy, as we shall see, though as obscure 
as the Mayflower was at her launching, was freighted 
with the principles which that little vessel brought 
across the ocean, and through the passionate devel- 
opment of these principles in him and the heroic 
deeds he performed in maintaining them, his name, 
like that of the MayfloweVy became invested with 
immortality. 

The widow Jackson, like most women of Scotch- 
Irish blood, was a strong, capable and thrifty 
woman, an excellent housekeeper and a wise and 
affectionate mother. Her maiden name was Eliza- 
beth Hutchinson. Her father's family, in the old 
North of Ireland home, was as poor as her hus- 
band's. But she and her sisters were fairly edu- 
cated, according: to the standard of education in 
those primitive times, and were brought up by 



12 General Andrew Jackson. 



pious, God-fearing parents " in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord." *They were weavers of 
linen. It is said that sometimes they worked all 
night at their looms in order to earn enough to keep 
the wolf from the door. It is not unfrequently the 
fortune of such obscure, faithful, God-fearing women 
to be the mothers of heroes. 

When little Andrew was three weeks old, Mrs. 
Jackson left her temporary home and took up her 
abode with another family of friends and relatives, 
where she lived as housekeeper for several years. 
Her two elder boys worked on neighboring farms. 
Andrew grew apace. He was the idol of his 
mother's heart. Mrs. Jackson was a devout woman 
and a habitual and prayerful reader of the Bible. 
The incidents narrated in the sacred Word, of the 
consecration of children, in their early infancy, to 
the service of God, had matle a deep impression on 
her mind. In her heart she consecrated her baby 
boy to God's service, and resolved that. Providence 
permitting, he should be a minister of the Gospel. 
In her devout and simple faith, which believed all 
things and hoped all things, she could say, with 
Hannah of old : "■ For this child I prayed ; and the 
Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of 
Him : therefore, also have I lent him to the Lord ; 
as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." 

Although Mrs. Jackson's fond hopes were not to 
be realized, her indulgence of them was providential. 
They elevated and hallowed her intense maternal 
love, and filled it with a reverence which caused her 
son's childhood to be enveloped in a spiritual atmos- 
phere that carried airs from Heaven in its bosom. 



Heroes — Childhood of a Hero. 13 



His nature was extraordinarily receptive of religious 
influences, and he breathed them in from infancy. 
He loved and reverenced his mother with passion- 
ate devotion. Her religious habits ; her daily 
reading of the Bible; her praying on her knees at 
his bedside; her custom of having him read the 
Bible, and pray at her knee with her hand resting 
lovingly on his head — all these sacred influences 
entered deeply into his soul and staid there forever. 
Although in after years they sometimes seemed to 
be buried deep under less benignant influences, they 
nevertheless were there, doing their silent work ; 
and as in childhood and youth and early manhood 
they had a powerful influence in the development 
and formation of his character, so in old age they 
blossomed anew and shed a halo of genial glory 
over the closing period of his life. 

Many babies were born in the year 1767, some of 
which were surrounded by influences that seemed 
to predestine them to greatness ; but how few of 
them can now be called by name, except by the 
assiduous students of history! On July 11, 1767, 
when Andrew Jackson was within four days of 
being four months old, a boy baby was born in 
Braintree, Massachusetts, that was to become closely 
associated with some of the most important events of 
his life. As those two babies were rocked, so 
widely apart, in their North Carolina and Massa- 
chusetts cradles, only the eye of Omniscience could 
foresee the coalescences and the collisions that were 
to occur between them. The Massachusetts baby, 
afterward known as John Quincy Adams, was to 
pass through comfort, high social position, institu- 



14 General Andrew Jacksori. 



lions of learning, the cabinets of diplomacy and the 
courts of Europe, to meet, at last, in the envenomed 
contests for the Presidency of the United States in 
1824 and 1828, that North Carolina baby who, mean- 
time, had come up through partisan warfare in the 
Revolution, through poverty and bitter struggles 
for an education and a profession, through fighting 
with wild beasts, Indians, Spaniards, British and 
foes innumerable, to a commanding position in the 
admiration and affection of his countrymen. As 
this narrative goes on, it will be interesting to note 
how the wide-swirling current of events slowly but 
constantly brought these two babies, destined to 
become such shining stars in the political firma- 
ment, first into friendly contiguity and then into 
resounding collision. 

There was another baby born that same year 
(1767) that was to have vastly more influence on 
Andrew Jackson's life than the Massachusetts baby. 
On what day, or in what place, this influential baby 
was born, I do not know. It was a girl baby, and 
was subsequently known as an intelligent, vivacious, 
lovely brunette, named Rachel Donelson. Her 
father, John Donelson, was a noted surveyor in 
Virginia, and it is probable that Rachel was born in 
that colony. How strangely the currents of human 
lives are mingled ! A man, at that time yet unborn, 
was to perish by Andrew Jackson's hand, for utter- 
ing insulting words in the presence and hearing of 
the lovely brunet.te, Rachel Donelson, of whom 
much will be said as this story goes on. 

As Andrew Jackson increased in years and sta- 
ture, he learned to ride, to hunt, and to do a good 



Heroes — Child Jiood of a Hero, 15 

deal of hard work of the kind that fell to the lot of 
all the boys of that region. In the days when the 
Persian Empire was at the height of its power and 
glory, the sum of a Persian boy's education was to 
ride on horseback, to shoot arrows, and to speak the 
truth. Andrew Jackson's education was like that 
of the Persian boy, except that he handled a rifle 
instead of a bow, and shot bullets instead of arrows. 
He could ride as well as any Persian, and he always 
spoke the truth. During a few months of each year, 
he was sent to school in a log school-house, where 
he was taught by rough, poorly educated, itinerant 
teachers. He took to his books kindly, and learned 
to write a fine, clear hand. His only failure was in 
his spelling ; to the end of his days he never mas- 
tered the orthography of the English language ; nor, 
in truth, did many of his contemporaries. It seemed 
as though the only way in which the majority of 
our Revolutionary worthies could escape being bad 
spellers was never to spell at all. 

Andrew was tall for his years, rather loose-jointed 
and not robust. He had sandy hair and piercing 
blue eyes. He was free in his manners, looked 
people squarely in the face, had an air of dauntless 
resolution, and became more and more the pride of 
his mother's heart. 

In 1848, I went to Washington as a reporter in the 

United States Senate. James K. Polk, a disciple 

and personal friend of Jackson's, was then President. 

Old Hickory had left Washington, at the close of 
his second term, in 1837, only eleven years before. 

The city was full of people who knew him person- 
ally, thousands of whom idolized him and hundreds 



! 



i6 General Andrew Jackson. 



of whom hated him. I had been intensely interested 
in his life from childhood, and I eagerly listened to 
everybody who would talk to me about him. I 
ransacked their memories for facts, for stories, for 
anecdotes, and made notes thereof, with the intention 
of some day writing the old hero's life. 

I heard enough about Andrew Jackson from his 
personal friends and his personal enemies in Wash- 
ine:ton to fill several volumes. Some of his friends 
were old men from North Carolina whom he had 
appointed to office while he was President, and who 
professed to be related to him either on his father's 
or his mother's side. Their pretensions may have 
been founded on fact, for Andrew Jackson was not 
a man to pass over an honest and capable relative or 
friend to give office to a strangef, under the hypo- 
critical assumption of a degree of public virtue 
which was never possessed by any man so basely 
mean as to forget in the day of triumph the friends 
who stood by him in the battle and helped him to 
win his victory. According to the testimony of 
these old men, who were familiar with the legends 
of Old Hickory's youth, the boy Andrew Jackson — 
or Andy Jackson as he was called — was a sprightly, 
fun-loving imp, whose propensity to boyish mischief 
was irrestrainable. He was fond of all athletic 
games, especially running, jumping and wrestling. 
He was also fond of horseback riding and hunting. 
As a wrestler, he depended on his grit more than on 
his strength. No matter how often he was thrown 
by more muscuLar boys, he would always demand 
" one more trial, " until, by his tireless persistency, 
he would obtain a victory over a boy larger and 



Heroes — ChildJiood of a Hero. 17 

stronger than himself. Mr. Parton, whose extensive 
and comprehensive '* Life of Andrew Jackson " is a 
store-house of facts and anecdotes, gives the testi- 
mony of an old school-mate of Andy Jackson's who 
says : 

^* I could throw him three times out of four, but 
he would never stay throwed. He was dead game, 
even then, and never would g\YQ up. " 

Andy's courage was so marked, it made a lasting 
impression upon the minds and memories of the in- 
habitants of the neighborhood. He was a leader of 
the brave boys of the settlement, and was ever ready 
to defend the weak and to defy the strong. He had 
a terrible temper, but his wrath was easily appeased 
as soon as opposition was overcome and victory had 
perched upon his banner. In all these respects, the 
old adage, " The boy is father of the man, " was 
absolutely true in the case of Andrew Jackson. To 
the end of his days he was a leader among the bravest 
of the brave, a defender of the weak, a defter of the 
wrong and strong. His courage and his fortitude 
were, as we shall see by and by, so lofty and so un- 
conquerable as to seem to be superhuman. In 1834, 
William Cobbett, well known in his day as a brave 
British soldier, a member of Parliament and a writer 
of distinction, wrote a life of Andrew Jackson, in 
which he calls, him '* the greatest and bravest man 
now living in this world, or who has ever lived in 
this world, as far as my knowledge extends. " 

As years went on and Andrew's character devel- 
oped, Mrs. Jackson's fond hope that her favorite 
boy would become a preacher of the Gospel 
increased in strength and deepened in intensity. 



1 8 Gcnei'al Aiidi^ew Jackson. 

To see Andrew in a pulpit, expounding the Word 
of God and warning sinners to flee from the wrath 
to come, was the highest object of her ambition, the 
consuming desire of her heart. She toiled, scrimped 
and schemed for that end, managed to send Andrew 
to some of the best schools then accessible, and 
would probably have accomplished her purpose of 
making him a clergyman had not over-ruling cir- 
cumstances of a stern and terrible nature interfered 
with her plans. But her efforts had been in the 
direct lines of Providence, and, to a degree beyond 
computation, had begun to prepare her boy for a 
career which was to be altogether different from a 
clergyman's. The gospel which Providence was to 
call Andrew Jackson to preach was the gospel of 
patriotism ; his church was to be the military camp ; 
his pulpit was to be his war-horse, and his doctrine 
was to be thundered from the mouths of cannon. 

One cannot help considering what the result 
would have been if the fond mother's wishes had 
been realized, and the brave, passionate, indomitable, 
uncompromising Andrew Jackson had become a 
preacher of the ^Gospel. As far as one can judge, 
he would have been a commanding pastor. His 
flock could have taken no middle course — would not 
even have been permitted to look at forbidden pas- 
tures through the fence. Me would have sharply sep- 
arated the goats from the sheep and driven the goats 
to Hades and the sheep to Heaven " without mitiga- 
tion or remorse." No neighboring clergyman, no 
wandering preacher from afar would have been per- 
mitted to poach on his parish. He would have 
taken care of his own saints and provided for his 



The Boy Soldier, 19 

own sinners. He would have given the devil no 
peace. But, as has already been intimated, Provi- 
dence was preparing quite another arena for 
Andrew Jackson to display his powers in ; an arena 
for which his nature pre-eminently fitted him. 



CHAPTER n. 

THE BOY SOLDIER.. 

Andrew Jackson was nine years old in the )^ear 
(1776) in which the Declaration of Independence 
was adopted and published.' His brother Hugh was 
fifteen, and his brother Robert was twelve years old. 
The next year, 1777, a baby was born near 
Richmond, Va., that was to thwart some of Andrew 
Jackson's dearest hopes and to incur his bitter 
enmity. That baby was afterward known and 
passionately loved, and is still admired and loved, 
as Henry Clay. 

In 1779 a boy baby was born in Ireland that, by 
the swirling current of events, was to be brought in 
sharp and far-sounding collision with the Carolina 
boy. That Irish baby boy was afterward known by 
the honored and celebrated name of General Sir 
Edward Pakenham. 

In 1780, Charleston was captured by the British, 
and Lord Cornwallis swept through the Carolinas, 
marking his path with devastation. The country 
was laid waste, and the inhabitants were driven to 



20 General A^idrew Jackson, 



the woods and the swamps for refuge. The Waxhaw 
settlement lay in the path of the British army. 
Hugh Jackson was already a trooper in the regiment 
of Colonel William R. Davie, who subsequently 
became Andrew Jackson's ideal soldier. Hugh 
Jacks(jn, though well grown for his age (nineteen), 
could not stand the hardships of partisan warfare. 
After fighting bravely at the battle of Stono Ferry, 
he died of exhaustion. The brave boy had the true 
Jackson grit, which never gave up so long as the 
vital principle remained. 

In that same year (1780), a baby boy was born 
that was afterward known as Charles Dickinson. I 
do not know the place of his birth. There are 
legends that he was a marvelously beautiful babe ; 
in after years he was certainly a marvelously hand- 
some man. As his mother kissed his dimpled hand, 
she had no premonition that it was to become the 
most expert hand in the use of a pistol known to 
that day and generation. How little a mother 
knows, as she kisses her baby boy's hand, with what 
it may in time be stained ! The hand now reddest 
with a human brother's blood was once a baby's 
innocent, dimpled hand. Fortunately for her peace, 
Mrs. Dickinson could not foresee that her son's confi- 
dence in his mastery of the pistol was to lead him to 
insult the lovely brunette, Rachel Donelson, in 
order to provoke the chivalric Andrew Jackson to 
come within his weapon's deadly range. 

In the spring of 1780, a camp of militia was formed 
near the Waxhaw settlement, for the purpose of 
protecting the patriots against the hostility of the 
Tories who sided with the British. Militia have 



The Boy Soldier, 21 

never been noted for taking precautions against sur- 
prise, and the Waxhaw militia were not different in 
this respect from other soldiers of their kind. In 
May (1780), the dashing Colonel Tarleton, who 
worked so much woe to the patriots of the Caro- 
linas, surprised the camp and dispersed the militia, 
who left over a hundred of their number dead and a 
hundred and fifty wounded. Such terror did Tarle- 
ton's name and conduct inspire, the inhabitants 
fied to the forests for safety ; Mrs. Jackson fleeing 
with them in company with her two sons, Robert 
and Andrew. 

Tarleton swept on his devastating way, not paus- 
ing to note the ruin he had wrought, and after he 
disappeared, the frightened inhabitants returned 
to their desolated homes. An appalling scene met 
their view. The bodies of the dead lay unburied, 
the wounded were suffering without any minister- 
ing hand to assuage their agonies. The work of 
burying the dead and caring for the wounded was 
at once begun by the returned fugitives. The old 
Waxhaw Church was turned into a hospital. Mrs. 
Jackson and her two boys became nurses of the 
wounded, and were assiduous in their ministrations 
to the helpless men, who died day after day despite 
all that could be done for them. On Andrew Jack- 
son, the sympathetic, fiery-hearted boy of thirteen, 
the effect of all this ravage and destruction and 
suffering and death was profound. It burnt into 
his soul. As he tenderly ministered to the wants of 
the wounded, and day after day saw the dead 
buried in their rude graves, he hungered to avenge 
their wrongs. His patriotic passion set his child's 



2 2 General Andrezv Jackson, 



heart ailamc, and pulsated in every drop of his fiery 
blood. It is related of him that while afterward 
passing a few months in the family of a distant rela- 
tive, he used to be sent to the blacksmith shop with 
broken household utensils and farm implements 
to have them repaired. He never came home with- 
out some deadly weapon that he had rudely 
fashioned at the shop, with which to smite the 
British. Once he fastened a scythe to the end of a 
long pole, and on reaching home he began with 
great fury to cut down the weeds that grew about 
the house, exclaiming, in his wrath : 

" Oh, if I were a man, how I would sweep down 
the British with my grass-blade !" 

In the summer of 1780, Robert Jackson, aged fif- 
teen, and Andrew, aged thirteen, became regular 
partisan troopers, donned their hunting-shirts, slung 
their guns across their shoulders, mounted their 
horses and joined the Patriot forces. It is impossi- 
ble not to think that a boy only thirteen years old 
would be of but little service in such rough work as 
the Patriot troopers were called upon to perform. 
But Andrew Jackson was a phenomenal boy. In 
describing General Sumter's successful attack on 
the British at Hanging Rock, on July 30, 1780, 
Bancroft says : 

" Among the partisans who were present in this 

fight was Andrew Jackson, an orphan boy of Scotch- 

Irish descent, whom hatred of oppression and love 

of country impelled to deeds beyond his years."* 

In order to understand Andrew Jackson's seem- 

* Bancroft's History of the United States. Vol. v, 383. 



The Boy Soldier. 23 

ingly incredible boyish achievements, we must 
remember the training he had received in his 
mother's home and at his mother's knee. Under the 
influence of this training, he had come to believe in 
God's superintending Providence with absolute 
faith ; and by a superintending Providence he 
understood a Providence that would superintend 
Andrew Jackson. His predominant characteristics 
were such as unwavering trust in God rapidly 
develops in ardent young natures that are predis- 
posed to faith in the Divine. It is well known that 
elevated and ardent spiritual affection quickens and 
strengthens and matures all the faculties of the 
mind to a marvelous degree. Andrew Jackson's 
mental faculties were thus quickened, strengthened 
and matured. He was under the domination of 
trust in God, love for his mother and his native land, 
and hatred of his country's foes. This triple com- 
bination of strenuous affections, kept in full play by 
the circumstances which environed him, gave the 
boy the courage, the fortitude, the endurance and 
the sagacity of a man. All the legends of those 
days testify to his zeal, his energy and his efficiency. 
His chance had come to gratify the dearest wish of 
his heart, to help " sweep down the British with his 
grass-blade," and he was vigilant to make the most 
of his opportunities. 

Raid after raid upon the country near the Waxhaw 
settlement kept the people in constant alarm, and 
compelled them again and again to flee to the woods 
and the swamps foi refuge. Colonel Davie and the 
other partisan leaders could do but little to protect 
them against the numerous detachments of British 



24 General Andreiu Jackso7i, 



troops aided by the malignant Tories. The wrath 
of the Patriots against the Tories burned at white 
heat, and their hatred was rancorously reciprocated 
by the allies of the British. The most cruel civil 
war raged throughout the Carolinas. The passions 
of the inhabitants became so inflamed that kind- 
hearted Christian men enacted the part of fiends. 

In August, 1780, General Gates was defeated at 
Camden, S. C, by Lord Cornwallis. That was a 
crushing blow to the Patriots. It filled the Tories 
with exultation. They became still more active, 
rancorous and brutal : and the Whigs (as the Patriots 
were called) defended themselves with correspond- 
ing animosity and ferocity. The effect of this hor- 
rible contest on the malleable, the growing, the 
forming nature of Andrew Jackson was powerful 
and lasting. Patriotism became a religion with him, 
and hatred of his country's foes a frenzy ; and we 
shall see how, thirty-five years afterwards, when his 
opportunity came, he poured forth all this, in one 
terrific blast of doom, upon the finest British army 
that ever stepped upon American soil. 

Things finally came to such a pass in the Waxhaw 
region that, whenever one of the American soldiers 
wanted to spend a night at home, special arrange- 
ments had to be made to defend his dwelling and 
save him from capture or death. On a certain 
occasion, Captain Sands, one of the Patriot ofBcers, 
wishing to visit his family, a guard was sent to pro- 
tect him. Andrew Jackson was one of the guard. 
The men were so exhausted by long-continued 
marching and watching, that they all fell asleep by 
midnight ; but one of them, who was restless in his 



The Boy Soldier, 25 



slumber, heard a noise, and, going out of doors, 
saw a band of the enemy stealthily approaching the 
house. Andrew Jackson was lying next the door. 
The man who had discovered the approach of the 
enemy, seized the sleeping boy by the hair, and 
cried : *' The Tories are upon us !" Instantly, the 
boy was wide awake. Springing through the door, 
with the rest of the guard gathered in a group 
behind him, he challenged the approaching foe. 
No reply being given, he discharged his musket at 
the enemy, who returned the fire, mortally wound- 
ing the restless man who had given the alarm. 
Fortunately, another band of Tories, unknown to 
the first assailants, came up from an opposite direc- 
tion and opened fire on the house. This caused the 
first band to halt. Little Andrew, with the instinct 
of a commander, took advantage of their confusion 
to withdraw the guard into the house, from which 
the Patriots kept up a brisk fire. At a critical 
moment, a bugle call was heard, which indicated 
that a company of Patriot troopers were advancing 
to the rescue of the beleagued guard. This caused 
both bands of Tories to hasten away, and the guard 
passed the remainder of the night in peace. It was 
afterward learned that the bugle call was sounded 
by a neighbor who heard the firing, and, suspecting 
that Captain Sands's house was attacked, took 
that method of rendering him the only efficient aid 
he could give. 

Lord Rawdon, whom Cornwallis had left in com- 
mand at Camden, hearing of the activity of the 
Waxhaw Whigs, sent a detachment of troops to the 
aid of the Tories in that region. Forty Whigs, 



Gc7icral Andrew Jackson, 



among' whom were the two Jackson boys, assembled 
to make preparations to repulse the British. They 
were betrayed by their Tory neig-hbors, surprised ' 
and put to flight. Eleven of the forty men were 
taken prisoners. The rest were hotly pursued b}^ 
the British. The Jackson boys rode different wa3'S. 
Andrew galloped by the side of his cousin, Lieuten- 
ant Thomas Crawford, one dragoon close behind 
them, and others not far off. The fugitives plunged 
into a swamp}^ field, which Andrew succeeded in 
crossing, but Lieutenant Crawford was overtaken, 
wounded and compelled to surrender. 

Robert Jackson escaped unharmed. In the 
course of the day, the brothers found one another. 
They passed a sleepless night. In the morning, 
being nearly famished, they quit their hiding place 
and went in search of food. Leaving their horses 
and arms behind them, safely hidden in the woods 
as they thought, the boys crawled stealthily to the 
nearest house, which was that of their wounded and 
captured cousin, Lieutenant Crawford. They sup- 
posed they were unobserved, but they were mis- 
taken. A Tory of the neighborhood had discovered 
their hiding-place, had found their horses and arms, 
and procured the assistance of a party of dragoons. 
Before the boys had a suspicion of danger, the sol- 
diers had surrounded the house and cut off all 
chance of escape. The brave lads were prisoners. 

The soldiers rushed into the house with the 
ferocity of demons. The rude dwelling was oc- 
cupied only by a young wife, her infant children 
and the two famishing boys, but the soldiers acted 
as though they were carr3nng an armed fortress by 



The Boy Soldier. 27 



storm. They broke to pieces the crockery, glass 
and furniture; they emptied the beds, and tore all 
the clothing to rags, not sparing garments belonging 
to the baby carried in Mrs. Crawford's arms. While 
the destruction was going on, the officer in com- 
mand of the party ordered Andrew Jackson to 
clean his high, muddy cavalry boots. Take notice 
of the little fellow's dignified response to the officer's 
bullying command. 

'* Sir, " said the brave boy, ** I am a prisoner of 
war, and claim to be treated as such. " 

The officer, in a rage, drew his sword and aimed a 
furious stroke at the child's head. Andrew threw 
up his left hand, which broke the force of the blow 
and probably saved his life ; but he received a deep 
cut on his hand and another on his head. Both 
wounds were severe, and he carried the marks of 
both all the days of his long life. When one con- 
templates the circumstances in which that captured, 
unarmed American lad, only thirteen years old, 
with slashed hand and cloven head, and his hunting 
shirt stained with his dripping blood, unflinchingly 
and defiantly stood his ground against his brutal 
British assailant, the heart is stirred with inexpressi- 
ble emotions, and one feels that there was a boy 
for all the boys in the world to admire and for every 
girl in the world to love. 

Finding it impossible to make Andrew clean his 
boots, the officer turned to the elder brother Robert 
and ordered him to clean them. Animated by 
Andrew's example and indignant at the officer's 
brutality, Robert likewise refused to perform the 
menial service ; whereupon the martial Briton felled 



« 

28 General Andrezv Jackson. 

Iiim to the earth by a blow of his sword upon the 
head. 

It is impossible to estimate the influence which 
such barbarities had upon the mind and the heart of 
our high-spirited young hero. He not only saw 
such brutalities with his own eyes and experienced 
them in his own person, but he heard of worse ones 
that were perpetrated in different parts of the 
country — the murder, lor instance, of Colonel 
William Ledyard, the gallant defender of Fort 
Griswold, in Connecticut. On September 7, 1781, 
Fort Griswold, defended by Colonel Ledyard with 
only one hundred and fifty-seven militia, was at- 
tacked by eight hundred British troops. The de- 
fense was so gallant that two hundred of the enemy 
were slain before the fort was captured. Major 
Bromfield, the commander of the British force, on 
entering the captured fortress, asked : 

** Who commanded this fort?" 

" I did, sir, but you do now, " Colonel Ledyard 
replied, at the same time handing the officer his 
sword. 

Major Bromfield seized the sword, plunged it to 
the hilt in Colonel Ledyard's bosom, and the gallant 
American fell dead at his British murderer's feet. 

The patriotic people of the Carolinas were writh- 
ing under the insolence of British armies in which 
every soldier was licensed to plunder and every 
officer outlawed peaceful citizens at will. 

"Tarleton and his corp set fire to all the houses 
and destroyed the corn from Camden down to 
Nelson's ferry ; he beat the widow of a general 
officer because she could not tell where Marion 



The Boy Soldier, 29 

was encamped, burned her dwelling, laid waste 
everything about it, and did not leave her a change 
of raiment. The line of their march could be traced 
by groups of houseless women and children, once 
of ample fortune, sitting round fires in the open 
air. * 

The unspeakably revolting conduct of British 
officers which Andrew Jackson witnessed and heard 
of convinced him that of all brutes the British brute 
is the most brutal. He had not yet learned, he had 
had no opportunity to learn, that of all brave,' hon- 
orable and noble men, the brave, honorable and 
noble Briton stands high among the very bravest, 
the most honorable and the noblest of mankind. Of 
this truth Andrew Jackson was entirely ignorant. 
He saw only the most odious traits of the British 
character, and they excited in him nought but feel- 
ings of indignation, wrath, hatred and vengeance. 
As Hannibal, in his childhood, swore eternal enmity 
to Rome on the altar of his country's gods, so Andrew 
Jackson, in his childhood, swore eternal enmity to 
England on the altar of his young heart. His own 
personal wrongs were burnt into his soul and for- 
ever remained vivid in his memory. Long years 
afterward, even when he was President of the 
United States, in recounting the outrage perpetrated 
upon him by the British officer whose boots he 
refused to clean, he sometimes took hold of the 
finger of a sympathizing listener and laid it in the 
deep wound made by his assailant's sword. 

When the soldiers had satiated their rage for 

* Bancroft v, 402. 



'> 



o Ge7ieral Ajidrczu Jackson. 



destruction upon the household effects of the help- 
less and hapless Mrs. Crawford, Andrew Jackson 
was ordered to mount his horse and guide some of 
the dragoons to the house of a noted Whig of the 
vicinity, named Thompson. Weak from starvation 
and loss of blood, suffering from his wounds, and 
threatened with instant death if he failed to guide 
the soldiers aright, this dauntless boy nevertheless 
resolved to save his friend Thompson. In order 
that the reader may work himself up to something 
like an adequate conception of this boy's character, 
let him think of all the boys of thirteen that he 
knows, or ever knew, and imagine any of them in 
the strait in which this thirteen-year-old Carolina 
boy now was, and then consider what the result 
would have been. But, as I have said, Andrew 
Jackson was a phenomenal boy ; and now observe 
with what sagacity he planned, even in the terrible 
and distracting circumstances in which he was 
placed, to save his friend Thompson. 

Andrew surmised that if Thompson were at home, 
he would have some one on the lookout for danger, 
and a horse ready for flight. In order that 
Thompson might be put on his guard, the sagacious 
boy, instead of leading the dragoons on the direct 
road to his friend's abode, led them by a roundabout 
route which brought them in sight of the house 
while still half a mile distant. On coming in sight 
of the dwelling, Andrew saw Thompson's horse, 
saddled and bridled, standing by a rack in the yard. 
The dragoons also saw the horse, and inferring 
therefrom that Thompson was at home, they dashed 
forward to seize their prey. Andrew's heart seemed 



The Boy Soldier. 31 

to rise in his throat at the thought that his strata- 
gem would not save his friend, after aU. But while 
the dragoons were still several hundred yards from 
the house, the boy's heart was made glad by Thomp- 
son's bursting from his door, leaping upon his horse 
and riding directly into a foaming creek, swollen 
with recent rains, that rushed and roared along near 
his dwelling. The dragoons did not dare attempt 
to cross the raging creek. Thompson, seeing their 
timidity, gave a shout of defiance and galloped into 

the woods. 

Mr. Parton, to whom the reader is indebted for the 
anecdote just related, tells us that the elation caused 
by the success of Andrew's stratagem was soon 
swallowed ,up by misery. With their wounds 
undressed, weak with hunger and the loss of blood, 
the Jackson boys, with their cousin Crawford and 
twenty other prisoners, were ordered to mount 
and begin their weary march to the chief British 
depot at Camden, in South Carolina, forty miles 
distant. It was indeed a dreadful journey to them 
all; but worst to these boys, sick and sore from 
fresh wounds. Amos Kendall says in his '' Life of 
Jackson " that not an atom of food, nor a drop of 
water was allowed them on the way. Such was the 
brutality of the soldiers that when the miserable 
Jackson lads tried to scoop up a little water from 
the streams which they forded, to appease their 
raging thirst, they were ordered with threats to 

desist. 

At Camden, the prisoners were placed in a small 

inclosure around the county jaiL There were two 

hundred and fifty prisoners in all shut up in that 



32 Gefieral Andrew Jackson, 



yard, without beds, medicine or attendance ; with- 
out any means of dressing their wounds or assuag- 
ing their pain. Their only nourishment was a small 
daily ration of inferior bread. 

** They were robbed even of a part of their cloth- 
ing, besides being subject to the taunts and threats 
of every passing Tory, The three relatives, it is 
said, were separated as soon as their re' itionship 
was discovered. Miserable among the miserable ; 
gaunt, yellow, hungry and sick ; robbed of his 
jacket and shoes ; ignorant of his brother's fate, 
chafing with suppressed fury, Andrew passed 
now some of the most wretched days of his life." 

The small-pox broke out among the prisoners, a 
disease still terrible, but which in those days, when 
no rational mode of treatment had been discov ered, 
struck terror to all who were exposed to it, and 
filled the hearts of its victims with despair. In the 
prison pen at Camden, the ravages of the disease 
were attended with every conceivable horror. The 
sick were not separated from the well ; the festering 
corpses of the dead were tardily removed from the 
inclosure. The emaciation of the prisoners and the 
wretched condition of their systems, invited the 
fatal attacks to which their lack of vitality caused 
them speedily to succumb. 

" For some time Andrew escaped the contagion. 
He was reclining one day in the sun near the 
entrance of the prison, when the officer of the guard, 
attracted, as it seemed, by the 3^outhfulness of his 
appearance, entered into conversation with him. 
The lad soon began to speak of that of which his 
heart was full — the condition of the prisoners and 



The Boy Soldier, 'XX 



the bad quality of their food. He remonstrated 
against their treatment with such energy and 
feeling that the officer seemed to be moved and 
shocked, and what was far more important, he was 
induced to ferret out the villainy of the contractors 
who had been robbing the prisoners of their rations. 
From the day of Andrew's remonstrance the 
condition of the prisoners was ameliorated ; they 
were supplied with meat and better bread, and were 
otherwise better cared for."* 

From an aperture in the fence surrounding their 
inclosure, some of the prisoners witnessed the battle 
of Hobkirk's Hill, between the armies of General 
Greene and Lord Rawdon, on April 25, 1781. Gen- 
eral Greene had superseded General Gates in the 
command of the Revolutionary forces in the South, 
and great things w^ere expected of him. He 
advanced to drive Lord Rawdon out of Camden, 
but having outstripped his artiller}^, he halted on 
Hobkirk's Hill for it to come up. The suffering 
prisoners hailed the appearance of the American 
army with rapture. They had no doubt of Greene's 
success, and to them his success meant liberty and 
home ; and to some of the more sick and despairing 
it meant life itself. Rawdon had only nine hundred 
men to Greene's one thousand three hundred. Owing 
to the superiority of his force, the American com- 
mander had no idea that he would be attacked, and 
failed to take proper precautions against a surprise. 
But Lord Rawdon did not choose to wait in Camden 
for Greene's artillerv to arrive. He sallied out on 

* Parton I, 91. 



34 General Andreiv Jackson, 

the morning of April 25th, took the Americans b}' 
surprise, drove them from their advantageous posi- 
tion, and put them to disastrous rout. Through a 
knot-hole in the fence surrounding the prison, 
Andrew Jackson saw this battle, or rather this rout, 
and learned lessons of war from it which he never 
forgot. He learned that danger lurks in every 
relaxation of precaution or discipline, and that the 
army which strikes the first blow in a battle has the 
inspiring influence of attack on its side, and, if skill- 
fully handled, gains an advantage which it is always 
difficult and sometimes impossible even for a superior 
opposing force to withstand. What splendid use he 
made at New Orleans of these lessons in war which, 
while a boy, he studied through his knot-hole at 
Camden, Avill be seen further on. Just now the 
brave boy had a battle close upon him more desper- 
ate than that of New Orleans ; a battle, indeed, of 
life and death. 



Andrew s Forlorn Condition. x 



JD 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LITTLE HERO'S STRUGGLE FOR LIFE — DEATH 
OF HIS MOTHER — ANDREW'S FORLORN 

CONDITION. 

After General Greene's defeat, the Jackson boys, 
still suffering from their wounds and despairing of 
escape fron their imprisonment, began to show 
symptoms of the small-pox. Before they were quite 
prostrate, their mother, who had long been schem- 
ing and striving for their exchange, reached Cam- 
den with an order for their release. In exchange 
for thirteen British soldiers, she received her two 
boys, her nephew (Thomas Crawford) and four of 
her Waxhaw neighbors. When this devoted mother 
saw her sons, she scarcely knew them, so wasted 
were they with wounds, starvation and disease. 
Robert could not sit on horseback unsupported. 
Andrew was reduced to a skeleton, but the fire of 
his eyes was not dimmed, nor his dauntless spirit 
subdued. 

Determined, if possible, to get her boys home at 
once, Mrs. Jackson procured two horses, one of 
which she rode herself, and placed her son Robert 
on the other. He was held in his seat by his com- 
panions. Last of all walked Andrew, without shoes, 
without a hat, wearing nothing but shirt and 
trousers, both ragged. How this wounded, dis- 
eased, emaciated lad of fourteen, with the small- 
pox fever raging in his veins and about to prostrate 



^6 General Andreiv Jackson, 



him, could have had the grit, the fortitude and the 
endurance to make that weary journey of forty miles 
on foot, is beyond human comprehension, unless we 
ascribe the phenomenon to the sustaining power 
of his trust in God. But he had the grit, the forti- 
tude and the endurance to accomplish such a mar- 
vel, even when a boy ; and he had the same charac- 
teristics in a more marked degree when he became 
a man, and he had the corresponding trust in God, 
also. When these forlorn wayfarers were almost in 
sight of their home, a cold and driving rain set in, 
which chilled both of these fevered boys to their 
marrow. They reached home well-nigh exhausted. 
Two days alter Robert Jackson died, and Andrew 
was raving in delirium. He had a narrow escape 
from death. After a desperate struggle, his mother's 
admirable nursing saved his life, but he did not 
fully recover for many tedious months. 

Long before his strength returned, harrowing 
rumors spread through both Carolinas to the effect 
that hundreds of American prisoners, among them 
many of Mrs. Jackson's relatives and neigh- 
bors, were perishing of hunger and disease in the 
Charleston prison-ships, a hundred and sixty miles 
distant. Inspired by her success in the exchange 
of her sons, Mrs. Jackson set out for Charleston, 
accompanied by two other women, with intent to 
procure, if possible, the release of her friends and 
relatives. It is known that those noble and devoted 
women reached the prison-ships, carrying joy and 
hope to despairing men. 

Andrew Jackson never saw his mother again. At 
the house of a relative near Charleston^ she was 



Andrezvs Forlorn Condition. 37 



seized with the ship-fever, of which she died after a 
short iUness. She was buried on the open plain 
near by, in an unmarked grave — a grave which 
Andrew Jackson could never find, though in after 
years he sought for it with the energy and persis- 
tency which his filial devotion inspired. 

For this wise and resolute mother, Andrew Jack- 
son cherished to his life's end an unparalleled ven- 
eration. So far as the record of his life shows, he 
was but little given to the shedding of tears ; but 
once, on a memorable occasion, he shed them on his 
mother's account. During his candidacy for the 
Presidency in 1828, the floodgates of vituperation and 
slander were opened upon him. So malignant was 
party animosity, that not only himself, but his wife, 
and even his mother were assailed with vindictive 
falsehood. During the campaign, his wife once 
found him in tears. In response to her looks of 
surprise and sympathy, he pointed to a paragraph 
reflecting on his mother, and said : 

"• Myself I can defend ; you T can defend ; but 
now they have assailed even the memory of my 
mother !" 

He loved to speak of his mother's firmness, of her 
good sense, of her capacity and of her compassion- 
ate heart. He loved to quote her maxims concern- 
ing the conduct of life, especially one : " Never to 
injure another, nor to accept from another an injury 
unredressed." Often in the heat of argument, when 
he was at the height of his renown, he would quote 
some homely saying, with the remark : *' That I 
learned from my good old mother." 

How little that " good old mother " knew what 



38 General Aiidi^ezu Jackson. 

the result of her maternal faithfulness was to be ! 
How little she dreamed that, in her lowly sphere, 
and in her humble, pious way, she was training for 
a great career the hero of the age ! In truth, she 
had imparted to her son what was of far more value 
than the learning oi the schools, than the acquisi- 
tions of commerce. From her he had learned to 
believe in God, in the Bible, in virtue, in the sacred- 
ness of woman's purity and love, in everything 
which gives strength to character, nobility to human 
nature, and honor and dignity to life. 

" Happy he 
With such a mother ! Faith in womankind 
Beats in his blood, and trust in all things high 
Comes easy to him." 

To Andrew Jackson may be applied, in all their 
fullness and power, the words that Carlyle puts in 
the mouth of his favorite character : " My mother, 
with a true woman's heart, and line though uncul- 
tured sense, was in the strictest acceptation Reli- 
gious. * * The highest whom I knew on earth I 
here saw bowed down, with awe unspeakable, before 
a Higher in Heaven ; such things, especially in 
infancy, reach inwards to the very core of your 
being; mysteriously does a Holy of Holies build 
itself into visibility in the mysterious deeps, and 
Reverence, the divinest in man, springs forth 
undying from its envelopment of Fear." 

When he heard the news of his mother's death, 
Andrew Jackson was in the fifteenth year of his age. 
He was surrounded by worn-out, suffering, disheart- 
ened neighbors, who had begun to despair of their 



Andrew s Forlorn Condition. 39. 



country's struggle for liberty ; he was an orphan ; he 
was homeless ; he was destitute ; he was broken in 
health and emaciated by disease ; his heart was deso- 
late from the loss in quick succession of all the 
members of his family. Was there ever a more 
pitiful case ? So far as ordinary human observation 
can see or foresee, there never was a more pitiful 
case. But Providence knew what it was about, and 
saw that this desolate orphan boy.'s situation was 
full of glorious promise. Heroes are not brought up 
in boudoirs, nor nourished with sugar-plums. 

What a calamity it would have been if a com- 
mittee of the supposed wisest men then in the 
world had been apppointed to supersede Providence 
in training Andrew Jackson for the career he was to 
achieve. The committee would have done every- 
thing for the boy ; Providence compelled him to do 
everything for himself. He who does a little for 
himself, gains more than he who has much done 
for him. To overcome obstacles, to triumph over 
difficulties gives one self-reliance, and strengthens 
and ennobles his character; whereas, a habit of de- 
pending on what others do for him, lessens one's 
reliance and weakens and degrades his character. 
In the light of these truths, it is possible for us to 
see that what seemed the worst features in this 
orphan boy's case, were, in fact, its best features. 
Moreover, in this boy there were elements of char- 
acter which, if properly developed, could triumph 
over all misfortunes and surmount all obstacles. 



40 General A7idi'ezv Jackson. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SECRET OF ANDREW JACKSON'S CAREER AND 

POWER. 

Some of the incidents of Andrew Jackson's life 
are so incredible, some of his exhibitions of mental, 
moral and spiritual power so transcend belief, it is 
necessary to give an exposition of his character in 
order that the reader may be prepared to under- 
stand how these seemingly impossible events could 
come to pass. It is a familiar fact that, when 
Andrew Jackson was President of the United States, 
although he was frequently opposed by a great 
preponderance of the intellect, scholarship, genius 
and commercial power of the Union, he neverthe- 
less came out of every contest victorious. It is 
also a matter of history that during General 
Jackson's military career, he repeatedly held in 
check and reduced to subjection whole regiments of 
mutinous troops, simply by the force of his will and 
the overpowering majesty of his presence. And as 
the story of his life goes on, it will be seen that he 
did other things more wonderful still. 

We already have a key to the character of the man 
who could do such incredible things. We have 
seen that the overruling attributes of Andrew 
Jackson's nature were reverence and faith in God ; 
he was also honest, truthful and chaste, and his 
mother's teaching and influence developed and ex- 



Andrew Jackson s Career ajid Power. 41 



alted those natural traits until they became spiritual- 
ized and ennobled to a transcendent degree. 

There are two pillars on which the edifice of civ- 
ilized society mainly rests. One of these pillars is 
integrity, the other is chastity. To man it is given 
to uphold integrity ; to woman it is given to uphold 
chastity ; and all that the ungodly world demands 
is that each sex shall stand by and uphold its own 
pillar. But here was a boy, a man, a hero, who, as 
to both of these sustaining pillars of society, was 
immaculate from his boyhood to his grave. There 
is ample and convincing evidence of this. More 
than forty years ago, in Washington, when talking 
with a banker who knew General Jackson intimately, 
1 asked him if the general was in fact as scrupulously 
honest as he was said to have been. " Honest !" he 
exclaimed, ''Why, sir, everybody that knew him 
knew that he was honest. A promissory note, or 
any piece of commercial paper, with Andrew Jack- 
son's name on it, was legal tender, sir, wherever that 
name was known !" Mr. Parton has collected a 
mass of testimony on this point, among which is the 
declaration of an old neighbor of the general's, who 
said : " As for Jackson's own part, law or no law, he 
would pay what he owed ; he would do what he said 
he would." A gentleman living in Tennessee went 
to Boston in 1838 to raise a large sum of money. 
The Boston bankers declined to let him have it, 
although his securities were backed by many of the 
best commercial names in Tennessee. They told 
him, however, that if he could get General Jack- 
son's endorsement on his paper, they would let him 
have all the money he wanted. " Why !" exclaimed 



42 General Andrew Jackson. 

the Teniiesseean, in surprise, " General Jackson isn't 
worth a tenth as much as any one of the gentlemen 
whose names I have." " No matter," was the reply ; 
'^ General Jacksoji always protects his paper and we'll let 
you Jiave tJie money on tlie strength of his name'' The 
general's endorsement was procured, and so was 
the money, '* on the strength of his name" — a name 
that was never dishonored. 

The evidence with regard to Andrew Jackson's 
purity of character and his chivalric conduct toward 
women is overwhelming. On this point, Judge 
Overton, of Tennessee, who was intimate with him 
from Jackson's early manhood, says, in an article on 
the subject : " In his singularly delicate sense of 
honor, and in what I thought his chivalrous concep- 
tion of the sex, it occurred to me that he [Jackson] 
was distinguishable from every other person with 
whom I was acquainted."^ 

Colonel Benton, in his '' Thirty Years in the U. S. 
Senate," page 738, says of General Jackson : '* There 
was an innate, unvarying, self-acting delicacy in his 
intercourse with the female sex, including all 
womankind." The Honorable Nicholas P. Trist, 
for a time President Jackson's private secretary, 
says : " There was in him a womanly modesty and 
delicacy as respects the relation of the sexes. ^' "^ ■^' 
This chaste tenderness toward the sex was con- 
stantly manifesting itself, and in a manner so 
unstudied, so perfectly spontaneous, as to show that 
it was as natural to him as to breathe." f 

During the reception given to President Jackson 

* Parton's Life of Jackson, I, 151. f Ibid. Ill, 602. 



Andrew Jacksoiis Career and Power, 4 



'^ 



at Cambridge, after Harvard College had made him 
a Doctor of Laws, some beautiful little girls came 
up to salute him. Josiah Quincy, a political enemy 
of Jackson's, who witnessed the scene, wrote of it 
thus : " He took the hands of these little maidens, 
and then lifted them up and kissed them. It was a 
pleasant sight — one not to be omitted when the 
events of the day were put upon paper. This rough 
soldier [Jackson], exposed all his life to those temp- 
tations which have conquered public men whom we 
still call good, could kiss little childreii with lips as pure 
as their owny'^ (The italics are mine.) On such 
statements by Judge Overton, Colonel Benton, Mr. 
Trist and Josiah Quincy, 1 am willing to rest the 
case, without calling any more witnesses. 

It has been said that " integrity, chastity and rev- 
erence are the three traits of human character which 
are most pleasing to God." I do not pretend to be 
in the secret of God's preferences; but it is no 
secret that integrity and chastity are the moral bed- 
rocks on which human character rests ; and Andrew 
Jackson's integrity and chastity were immaculate. 
It is an accepted truth and fact that exalted rev- 
erence—" the divinest in man," as Carlyle says- 
quickens, deepens and strengthens all the other 
qualities and faculties, and gives a man such confi- 
dence in himself as nothing else can bestow. Andrew 
Jackson's reverence exceeded that of any man of 
his time, or of any time, so far as the observations 
of phrenologists and the developments of his char- 
acter can determine. 

* Figures of the Past, page 367. 



44 General A^idrew Jacksoit. 



A man of excessive reverence, if he is a Chris- 
tian, has implicit faith in God ; if he is an infidel, 
he has implicit trust in his star, his fate, his destiny ; 
and whether Christian or Infidel, he has a Satisfying 
and sustaining belief in himself. That is the kind 
of man that Andrew Jackson was. Of all the men 
of whom 1 have any knowledge he had the most 
faith in God and in himself. Throughout all his 
life he was sustained by a comforting assurance that 
God and Andrew Jackson constituted a combina- 
tion that could not be overcome by human power. 
Consequently he never " lost his head ;" he never 
quailed before any degree of danger ; no amount of 
suffering and disaster, and of seemingly utter disso- 
lution of opportunity could overcome his fortitude. 
His favorite adjuration, " By the Eternal," was an 
outcome of his reverence, being to him equivalent 
to '' In the name of the Eternal." When, on hear- 
ing, on the afternoon of December 23, 1814, that the 
British army had come within eight miles of New 
Orleans, he said, '* By the Eternal, they sha'n't sleep 
on our soil !" the sentiment of his heart was that, 
" In the name of the Eternal," he that very night 
would deal the invaders a staggering blow ; and, 
*' By the Eternal," he did it. 

In addition to the elements of character already 
specified, Andrew Jackson's combativeness, destruc- 
tiveness, secretiveness, cautiousness and other ani- 
mal organs were very large: so were his firmness, 
hope, conscientiousness and self-esteem. It is not 
difficult to understand that such a combination of 
extraordinary mental, moral and spiritual qualities 
endowed him with a character which, practically 



Andrczu Jacksoiis Cai'ecr and Pozvcr. 45 

considered, was of that unconquerable kind, solid 
and firm as Gibraltar, that Emerson defines as ''cen- 
trality, tJie ij^ipossibility of being displaced or overset'^ 
It was in vain, therefore, for men whose characters 
Avere so defective they could be displaced and over- 
set, to contend with Andrew Jackson. He might have 
been destroyed, but while he lived he could not be 
vanquished. Like Milton's ang-els, such character 
as his, 

" Vital in every part 

Cannot, but by annihilating, die."* 

There is another factor in the character and 
career of Andrew Jackson which should be kept in 
view, and that is, the race from which he sprang-. 
He was of Scotch-Irish lineage. 

Owing to some inscrutable dispensation of Provi- 
dence, the Scotch-Irish combine nearly all the 
opposing extremes of character. Of all the descend- 
ants of Adam, they are among the most zealous 
advocates of the Gospel of Peace and the most bel- 
ligerent of the children of God ; among the most 
ferocious and the most tender-hearted ; the most 
courageous and the most cautious ; the most impetu- 
ous and the most canny ; the- most dashing and the 
most strategic ; the most exacting and the most 
generous. They are noted for pugnacity, tenacity, 
veracity — for fight, grip and truth. They excel in 
bringing things to pass and in husbanding results. 
They are thrifty, accumulative ; they get and they 
keep — "keep the Ten Commandments and everj^- 
thing else they can lay their hands on," as the Rev. 
Dr. John S. Macintosh, a distinguished Scotch-Irish- 



46 Getter a I Andrew Jacksoti, 

man, says of them. Politically, socially and reli- 
giously — to borrow a phrase from another eminent 
member of the race, the Hon. William Wirt Henry, 
of Virginia — the Scotch-Irish are distinguished for 
** stern integrity, high sense of duty, hatred of 
tyranny and devotion to God." 

The names of eminent and prosperous members 
of this race are thickly sown through American his- 
tor}', among which are the names of Charles Carroll, 
of Carrollton, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, 
John Paul Jones, Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, 
Thomas H. Benton, John Marshall, James Madison, 
James K. Polk, Robert Fulton, Horace Greeley, 
Robert Bonner, Abraham Lincoln, Ul3'sses S. 
Grant, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The 
list might be extended to thousands, but let these 
names suffice. And when, in addition to the delinea- 
tion of his character already given, it is understood 
that of all the Scotch-Irishmen known to history, 
Andrew Jackson possessed, in the most exuberant 
fullness, the best characteristics of the race, and had 
just the right field to display them on, it will be 
easy to believe that incidents so extraordinary as to 
seem incredible often occurred in his unparalleled 
career, the nar*-ative of which will now be resumed. 



From Youth to Manhood. 



47 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM YOUTH TO MANHOOD — FROM THE WAXHAWS 

TO NASHVILLE. 

On the 19th of October, 1781, Cornwallis surren- 
dered at Yorktownto Washington and Rochambeau. 
This virtually ended the war ; but the British held 
possession of Charleston until December, 1782, when 
they sailed away, to the great joy of the inhabitants 
of the Carolinas. During that year (1782), several 
babies were born that were to collide with Andrew 
Jackson and more or less affect his career. On 
January 18, 1782, Daniel Webster was born in Salis- 
bur}^ (now Franklin), New Hampshire ; on March 
14, Thomas H. Benton was born in Hillsborough, 
N. C; on March 18, John C. Calhoun was born in 
the Calhoun settlement, Abbeville District, S. C; 
on October 9, Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, N. 
H.; and on December 5, Martin Van Buren was 
born in Kinderhook, N. Y. Seventeen hundred and 
eighty-two was a great year for babies that were to 
become famous. Andrew Jackson and his Massa- 
chusetts contemporary (John Quincy Adams) were 
now youths of fifteen, and Henry Clay was a boy 
five years old. All these babies, and the boy of five, 
and the youths of fifteen, who were born so far 
apart and under such ^different circumstances, were 
to have their threads of life woven together on the 
loom of Providence in strange ways and after 
strange patterns. The lovely brunette, Rachel 



48 General Andrew Jackson. 

■ ■ " 

Donelson, now fifteen years old, had gone with her 
brave father through awful perils of flood and 
forest, to the wilds of Western Tennessee. But the 
remoteness and obscurity of her residence did not 
save her from having the threads of her own life 
fatefuUy woven into this many-patterned web. And 
the handsome baby boy, Charles Dickinson, was to 
find his way to far Western Tennessee, and to have 
his life-threads woven into the same fabric ; and they 
were to give it a crimson stripe not pleasant for 
human eyes to look upon. 

There is but little authentic information concern- 
ing Andrew Jackson's life during the next three 
years. Kendall says that a low fever hung about 
him long after his recovery from the small-pox, and 
kept him weak and dispirited. But weak as he was, 
he had the spirit to resent a threat of chastisement 
made by one Captain Galbraith. " Before you lift 
your hand to strike me," said the brave lad, " you 
had better prepare for eternity." The irate Gal- 
braith did not lift his hand to strike the boy. 

Andrew lived several months with a saddler, 
named Joseph White, and during that time he 
worked in the saddler's shop as regularly as his 
health permitted. He became a school-teacher 
before he was seventeen years old, and was success- 
ful in his vocation ; especially in preserving order 
among the half-civilized and vivacious youths of the 
Waxhaw region. In 1785, at the age of eighteen, 
he went to Salisbury, N. C, to study law in the 
office of Spruce McCay, a noted lawyer of that day. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1787, a few weeks 
before he reached the age of twenty-one. That was 



From Youth to Manhood, 49 



the year in which the National Constitutional Con- 
vention was held. The Constitution of the United 
States was adopted in 1788. What is now the State 
of Tennessee was then Washington County, N. C. 
This vast region was divided into three judicial dis- 
tricts, the westernmost of which was called the 
Western District, and had Nashville, then a small 
village of log cabins, for its capital. 

Andrew Jackson practised law in his native region 
and contiguous localities, for several months with 
fair success. About all that is remembered of this 
part of his career is that he conducted a lawsuit in 
a characteristic way ; that is, he made a personal 
fight of it, and usually won by his grit and his 
strategy rather than by means of his legal knowl- 
edge. In 1788, John McNairy, a relative of the 
Jacksons, was appointed Judge of the Western Dis- 
trict of Washington County, N. C. (now Tennessee). 
Andrew Jackson was appointed Solicitor and Public 
Prosecutor, and a young friend of his — Thomas 
Searcy — was appointed clerk of the court. These 
were not very desirable appointments. The salaries 
were small. Nashville was hundreds of miles dis- 
tant, beyond the Alleghany Mountains, and the 
route to it lay through an unbroken wilderness, 
swarming with Indians who cherished a fiendish 
hatred of the whites, and murdered them whenever 
they could get an opportunity. 

But the spirit of adventure was strong in the 
lawyers of that day. Their characters had been 
formed amid the strife by which the country had 
been scarred for many years, and they welcomed 
danger with stern joy. So the newly-appointed 



50 General Andrew Jackson, 



Judge, the Prosecuting Attorney and the clerk of 
the court, prepared themselves to carry law and jus- 
tice into the wilds of Western Tennessee. They 
were accompanied by a score of neighbors, loaded 
with household utensils and farm implements, and 
with a plentiful supply of fire-arms and ammunition. 
They rendezvoused at Morganton, in the western 
part of North Carolina, then the starting-point for 
*' the great West," and set out for Jonesboro, a hun- 
dred miles distant. They made the journey in 
five days. Jonesboro was then a " settlement " 
containing about sixty log cabins, and a new 
log court-house. Judge McNairy's party was 
detained at Jonesboro many weeks, waiting for the 
formation of a company and the organization of a 
guard strong enough to brave the perils of the 
wilderness. Meanwhile, the court was organized 
and the trial of cases was begun in the new log 
court-house. Andrew Jackson took part in these 
trials, and soon distinguished himself in a character- 
istic manner. 

In the trial of a case which attracted a crowd to 
the court-house, young Jackson (then twenty-one) 
was opposed by a lawyer of much experience, 
named Colonel Waightstill Avery. Colonel Avery, 
who was at the head of the legal profession in the 
backwoods, treated Jackson in such a contemptuous 
way, that the young man's blood, never too placid, 
glowed with fiery indignation. He wrote a note 
of expostulation to Colonel Avery, but the next day 
the offensive conduct was repeated. Andrew Jack- 
son opened a law book which lay on the table before 
him, and on one of the blank leaves wrote a chal- 



From YoictJi to ManJio^d. 51 

Icnge to his insulting opponent, demanding speedy 
satisfaction. Several years ago, one of Colonel 
Avery's descendants sent that challenge, yellow 
with the age of nearly a hundred years, to the New 
York Ledger for publication. I then examined the 
document with much interest. The hand-writing 
was firm, clear and handsome — good enough for 
anybody ; but the orthography and punctuation 
were not in accordance with the present prevailing 
standards. Here is the challenge : 

" August 12, 1788. 

" Sir When a mans feelings & charectorare injured he ought 
to seek speedy redress: You rec'd a few lines from me yester- 
day, & undoubtedly you understand me. My charector you 
have injured ; and further you have Insulted me in the presence 
of a court and a larg audiance I therefore call upon you as a 
gentleman to give me satisfaction for the same ; and 1 further 
call upon you to give me an answer immediately without Equiv- 
ocation and I hope you can do without dinner until the business 
is done ; for it is consistant with the charector of a gentleman 
when he injures a man to make a speedy reparation ; therefore 
I hope you will not fail in meeting me this day from yr. Hbl. st. 

Andw, Jackson. 

" Coll. Avery. 

" P. S. This Evening after court is adjourned." 

This challenge, although it was dashed off on the 
spur of the moment and in a spasm of rage, exhibits 
the thoughtful, logical and canny traits of character 
which were always paramount in Andrew Jackson's 
conduct, no matter how great the fury to which his 
temper was aggravated. The challenge shows that 
he had good cause for his action ; that his character 
had been injured ; that he had previously written a 
note to the aggressor ; that notwithstanding his note 



52 General Andrew Jackson, 



he had been insulted before the court and a large 
audience. The challenge demands "an answer 
immediately, without equivocation, " and alluringly 
suggests that the challenged party " can do without 
dinner until the business is done, " because '' it is 
consistent with the character of a gentleman, when 
he injures a man to make a speedy reparation. " 
How very polite, logical and reasonable. 

In that age and in that region, a man who declined 
a challenge to mortal combat could not hold up his 
head in the community ; he was ostracized ; he was 
despised ; he was sometimes shunned by his own 
kindred as a coward who had brought disgrace upon 
the family. Therefore Colonel Avery unhesitat- 
ingly accepted the challenge of his young antagonist. 
The belligerents met that same day, after sunset, in 
a small hollow near Jonesboro, which is still pointed 
out as the scene of the duel. Fortunately, neither 
party was injured. After an exchange of shots, 
Jackson, whose wrath was always easily appeased 
after " the right thing had been done," expressed 
himself satisfied and shook hands with Colonel 
Avery. 

After reading the account of this duel, it would 
not be unnatural for a person of hasty judgment to 
wonder where Andrew Jackson's enormous reverence 
and intense religious nature were ^at this juncture. 
But when said person of hasty judgment remembers 
that in bygone times religious men used to fight 
duels on slight provocation, and even burned other 
Christians at the stake for a difference of opinion, 
he will be able to understand that Andrew Jackson's 
enormous reverence and intense religious nature 



From Youth to Manhood, 53 

were not quiescent on that occasion, but strenuously 
stood by him, and enabled him to look into the 
muzzle of his antagonist's pistol without a tremor. 
The religion of an era seldom rises above the social 
and political standards of the era. When it was be- 
lieved to be the duty of a Christian not to keep his 
word with an infidel ; when it was believed to be 
right to hang, drown or burn women accused of 
witchcraft ; when personal combats were the fashion 
among the chief supporters of the church ; when it 
was believed to be right to burn people at the stake 
for differences of opinion ; when slavery was pre- 
dominant in the government and in the commerce 
of the United States, the religion of the time was 
readily adjusted to those low moral and political 
conditions. Let us not be unreasonably severe in 
our condemnation of the conduct of those who lived 
in comparatively barbarous ages ; but let us rejoice 
that the barbarous customs of those ages (except 
within narrow limits) no longer oppress mankind. 

The duel had a profound influence on the fortunes 
of Andrew Jackson. His conduct excited the ad- 
miration of the people among whom his lot was cast, 
and won the respect of his professional brethren. 
Thenceforth, no member of the bar ventured to 
treat him with discourtesy, and he became the 
admired leader of the younger portion of the com- 
munity. A proof of his genius as a born leader of 
men, and as one who instinctively knows just what 
to do in the hour of danger, when others lose their 
self-possession, was given while he was in Jonesboro, 
several years afterward. The account of the 
incident is from the pen of an eye-witness, Colonel 



54 General Andrew Jackson. 

Isaac T. Avery, who was a son of the Colonel 
Waightstill Avery with whom Jackson fought the 
duel. He sa3's : 

** I was at Jonesboro court, at one time, when 
every house in the town was crowded. About 
twelve o'clock at night a fire broke out in the stables 
of Rawlings, the principal hotel-keeper in the place. 
There was a large quantity of hay in the stables, 
which stood in dangerous proximity to the tavern, 
court-house and business part of the town. The 
alarm filled the streets with lawyers, judges, ladies 
in their night-dresses and a concourse of strangers and 
citizens. General Jackson no sooner entered the 
street, than he assumed the command. It seemed 
to be conceded to him. He shouted for buckets, 
and formed two lines of men reaching from the fire 
to a stream that ran through the town ; one line to 
pass the empty buckets to the stream, and the other 
to return them full to the fire. He ordered the 
roofs of the tavern and of the houses most exposed 
to the fire to be covered with wet blankets, and 
stationed men on the roofs to keep them wet. 
Amidst the shrieks of the women and the frightful 
neighing of the burning horses, every order was 
distinctly heard and obeyed. In the line up which 
the full buckets were passed, the bank of the stream 
soon became so slippery it was difficult to stand. 
While General Jackson was strengthening that part 
of the line, a drunken coppersmith named Boyd, 
who said he had seen fires at Baltimore, began to 
give orders and annoy persons in the line. 

" ' Fall into line !' shouted the General. 

" The man continued jabbering. Jackson seized 



From Youth to Manhood, 55 

a bucket by the handle, knocked him down, and 
walked along the line giving his orders as coolly as 
before. He saved the town / " * 

In the latter part of September, 1788, a large party 
started from Jonesboro for Nashville. It is reported 
that in a great degree they owed their escape from 
the perils of the wilderness to the vigilance of young 
Jackson. On one memorable occasion he saved the 
party from massacre. They had marched a night 
and two days without a longer halt than an hour, in 
order to reach a place where it was supposed they 
would be safe from the attacks of their Indian foes. 
The entire party, worn out with their long march, 
and supposing themselves to be beyond danger, fell 
asleep soon after eating their suppers. Only one 
man kept awake, and that man was Andrew Jack- 
son. He sat leaning against a tree, smoking his 
corn-cob pipe. After awhile his attention was 
attracted to the hooting of owls in the surrounding 
woods. It struck him that there were too many 
owls, and that there was something queer in the 
quality of their hoots. His keen and practiced ear 
soon recognized, in the hooting of the owls, the 
signals of savages who were surrounding the camp. 
He cautiously awoke his friend Searcy, and called 
his attention to the signals. Then he quietly aroused 
some of the more experienced woodsmen who, on 
hearing the hootings, agreed with him that they 
were Indian signals. What is to be done ? was the 
appalling question which at once arose. Fortu- 
nately, there was a young man there who was always 

* Parton's Life of Jackson, I, 162. 



56 General Andrew Jackson. 

inspired by the genius of courage and leadership 
when that question arose in the hour of peril. He 
at once took command. By his direction, every 
sleeper was quietly awakened. Silently, and in per- 
fect composure, he made every needful preparation, 
and then the whole party stole away in the darkness. 
They traveled all night, and escaped the toils in 
which the savages would have environed them, had 
it not been for Andrew Jackson's vigilance and his 
ready resources in the hour of danger. A party of 
hunters, who reached the abandoned camp an hour 
after the fugitives had left it, and went to sleep by 
the still burning camp-fire, were attacked by the 
savages before morning, and all of them killed but 
one man. 

The emigrants (that was what those who went 
west over the mountains in those days were called) 
reached Nashville late in October, 1788. As the 
long train approached the village, they were 
received with enthusiasm by the isolated inhabi- 
tants, to whom they brought letters from friends 
and relatives, and among whom in fact were not a 
few of their own kin. People of our times, who are 
not exposed to the isolation and the dangers which 
were the lot of frontier settlers in the last century, 
cannot realize the joy and gladness which news 
from relatives, and reunion with friends, brought to 
their hungry hearts. The little group of inhabit- 
ants in Nashville were in a hostile country, sur- 
rounded with myriads of alert, revengeful and mer- 
ciless savages. Men did not dare go to their work 
in the fields without being armed and in readiness to 
meet the stealthy attacks of their wily foes. When 



F^'oin Youth to Manhood. 57 



men met on the highway and stopped to converse, 
they stood back to back, with cocked rifles in hand. 
No man dared stoop to drink from a spring unless 
he had a comrade on guard. Girls never went 
berrying without the attendance of armed men. 
Think of that, ye young men and maidens who now 
go berrying and picnicking without a thought of 
fear ! Try to put yourselves in the place of those 
Tennessee boys and girls who picked berries and 
made love in the very shadow of death ! But such 
a life had its compensations. Every girl's lover was 
a hero, ready to meet death for her dear sake. And 
she knew it ; and what could any girl of spirit accept 
as a substitute for such heroic devotion ? And 
those Tennessee girls were all girls of spirit. They 
were heroines, worthy of the devotion of their 
heroic lovers ; and in their descendants there still 
abide the qualities which a hundred years ago made 
Tennessee renowned for the bravery of its inhab- 
itants. 

To those brave inhabitants of the frontier settle- 
ments, eternal vigilance was not only the price of 
liberty, but of life itself. The least relaxation of 
vigilance was sure to be followed by the death of 
some of their number. Hence, in addition to other 
pleasant considerations, the arrival in an isolated 
settlement of a party of newcomers, comprising 
many brave and well armed men, was like the 
arrival of a relieving force to a weak and beleag- 
uered fortress. So there was joy in Nashville, and 
the newly arrived emigrants were welcomed with a 
hospitality that was limited only by the meager 
resources of the village. 



58 G 671 era I Aiidrezo Jackson. 



Louf-cabins were at once '* raised '' for the accom- 
modation of the newly arrived families. The 
unmarried men were gladly welcomed to the cabins 
of the settlers. The addition of a fighting member 
to a household was a valuable acquisition under cir- 
cumstances in which the safety of a family depended 
on its fighting power. In such a community, a 
young man like Andrew Jackson would be in great 
request. He considered himself fortunate in finding 
a home with the Widow Donelson. Her husband, 
Colonel John Donelson, a sturdy and prosperous 
pioneer, had built himself a block-house of unusual 
size and strength, and furnished it with more than 
ordinary frontier comfort ; but he was slain while 
surveying a piece of woodland some distance from 
the village. Mrs. Donelson's married daughter 
Rachel, and her husband, Lewis Robards (a Ken- 
tuckian), were living with her ; but she was glad to 
have such a chivalric young man as the new Solici- 
tor, whose appearance indicated that he could be 
depended upon in the hour of danger, take up his 
abode under her roof. 

This choice of a boarding-place, which seemed to 
be a trivial matter, was in truth and all unknown to 
the parties concerned, one of the most important 
steps which Andrew Jackson ever took. It brought 
to him the greatest misery as well as the greatest 
happiness of his life ; it embroiled him with many of 
his fellow-citizens; it occasioned envenomed feuds ; 
and in one conspicuous case it led to the death of 
one of his foes under circumstances peculiarly tragic 
and memorable. And it was the little hand of the 
lovely brunette which unconsciously mixed this cup 



From Youth to Manhood. 59 



of mingled bliss and woe for the young Solicitor 
and Prosecuting Attorney from the Waxhaw settle- 
ment in North Carolina. 



6o General Andrew Jackson. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE. 

In taking up his abode in Nashville, Andrew 
Jackson planted himself in exactly the right spot 
for the fullest and most beneficent development of 
his natural capacities and aptitudes. A better place 
for him could not have been found, nor could a better 
man have been found for the place. At that time, 
and for many subsequent years, Nashville furnished 
fitting opportunities for him to make his natural quali- 
ties of the greatest possible use to his fellow-citizens. 

In the first place, as has already been said, the 
settlement was perpetually beleaguered by Indians, 
who never let an opportunity for wreaking ven- 
geance on the whites pass unimproved. For many 
years, a fortnight did not elapse in which at least 
one white person was not killed in the neighbor- 
hood of Nashville, by the Indians. But these red 
savages were not more dangerous than the white 
ones who infested the settlement. Even in our own 
times, remote frontier settlements are cursed with 
too many red-handed ruffians who have fled from 
justice and the executioner. But the robbers and 
murderers who nowadays figure on the fringe of 
civilization are not to be compared in numbers 
or ferocity with those who helped to render life 
precarious and to make it a burden to honest peo- 
ple in the frontier settlements seventy-live or a hun- 
dred years ago. 



The Right Man in the Right Place, 6i 



In these latter days scientists have discovered 
that there is a universal tendency, as silent and as 
sleepless as the law of gravitation, for every form 
of life to revert back to its original low condition. 
This tendency is called atavism. The moment that 
educating, refining, elevating influences are with- 
drawn from any creature, that forsaken creature 
begins to deteriorate. For instance, if a herd of the 
finest bred cattle were to wander off into some 
region uninhabited by intelligent men, the cattle 
would begin to retrograde ; and they would go on 
deteriorating, generation after generation, until 
they had sunk to the original condition in which 
the first breeder found his lank, bony, uncouth stock 
a century or more before. 

Human beings are subject to this same tendency 
to retrogression and degradation. Indeed, atavism, 
where it has full play, affects man more than any 
other creature. When civilizing, refining, elevating 
and religious influences are withdrawn from men 
for a long period of time, a large percentage of 
them sink to a level with savages, sometimes to a 
level with wild beasts, and become worse than wild 
beasts ; become fiends — brutes with enough human 
cunning left to make their brutality all the more 
horrible and formidable. In the light which this 
great law of nature sheds upon the subject, it is easy 
to understand the conditions in which Andrew 
Jackson was placed in Nashville a hundred years 
ago. For twenty years, during Indian wars and 
the war of the Revolution, fighting and killing had 
been one of the industries and duties of the people 
living on the confines of civilization. Lawlessness 



62 General Andrezv Jackson, 

had become a habit with thousands of men who 
under more propitious circumstances would have 
been law-abiding" citizens. " As the husband so the 
wife is," sings the poet ; and, it may be added, so 
are the sons and daughters. Women and children 
who live in the bonds of daily domesticity with ruf- 
fians, themselves become ruffianized, and the entire 
family circle sinks into a state of lawlessness and 
brutalit}'. 

One of the most annoying- of the minor phases of 
the lawlessness of the times was the contempt which 
a large portion of the community felt for the sacred- 
ness of contracts. They never kept an agreement ; 
they never paid a debt, never responded to any 
obligation whatever, unless it suited their con- 
venience to do so. To ask one of them to pay a 
just debt was, in his opinion, to insult him ; or, as he 
wou.d probably put it, it was a reflection upon his 
honor. More than forty years ago 1 was told of an 
amusing- incident which occurred in Eastern Tennes- 
see, about 1805, which illustrates that phase of busi- 
ness life in those days. A trader in Knoxville, who 
dealt in all manner of goods and notions, including 
books and stationery, sold a settler a Bible on credit. 
The customer seemed a little ashamed of his pur> 
chase, and explained his conduct by saying he 
wanted the book for his ** old woman. *' Evidentlv 
he did not read the Bible himself, and not being 
imbued with its spirit, he failed to pay for it. After 
along time, the bookseller sent him a dunning letter 
which touched his *' honor, " and he wrote back to 
his creditor, in substance, as follows : 



The Right Afan in the Right Place. 63 

" Sir,— Your insulting letter has come to my hands. I can- 
not allow such an insult to pass. Therefore I demand of you 
such satisfaction as one gentleman is always entitled to from 
another, under such circumstances. " 

The bookseller being a plucky man, as any one 
who survived in that region had to be in those times, 
accepted the challenge and wounded his debtor, 
who, after recovering from his wound, paid for the 
Bible like a Christian. 

Into this environment of bloodthirsty savages, of 
sensitive, fighting debtors, of vagabonds and cut- 
throats, Andrew Jackson, in October, 1788, came as a 
Deus ex machina — a God who sets all things straight 
and right. On his arrival at Nashville, there was but 
one other lawyer in the Western District of Tennes- 
see, and he was retained by the delinquent debtors 
to help them avoid paying their debts. The young 
solicitor let it be known that he was ready to take 
the side of honesty and justice. He belonged on 
that side by nature. As we have already learned, 
he hated debt, and would pay whatever he owed, 
no matter to what inconvenience the payment put 
him. As soon as the traders, and others who had 
claims due, learned that a lawyer had come to 
Nashville who would undertake to collect their 
claims, they flocked to his office. In the course of a 
month he had issued seventy writs. At first, the 
debtors treated his proceedings with indifference. 
They had had everything their own way so long, 
that they imagined themselves to be securely in- 
trenched in their own dishonesty. They supposed 
that the preponderance of public sentiment was on 
their side. And so it had been, previous to Andrew 



64 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackson. 



Jackson's advent ; but he changed the face of affairs. 
It had also been supposed to be impossible for a 
creditor to collect a debt which the debtor did not 
choose to pay ; but Andrew Jackson ordered it 
otherwise. 

The law-defying debtors soon began to feel the 
Solicitor's grip. As, one after another, they came 
in contact with him, they discovered that he was 
a man who could not be, who would not be trifled 
with. There was something so lionlike in his pres- 
ence, something so overmastering in his demeanor, 
that, with his piercing eyes looking into theirs, they 
found their lawless courage dying out of their 
hearts — '* oozing out of their finger-ends." Still, 
they were not inclined to surrender without striking 
a blow for their liberty to defy the law and their 
right to disregard their pecuniary obligations. 
Something must be done to stem this torrent of 
legal procedure, and show that frontier lawlessness 
could maintain its '^ honor. " As all attempts to 
intimidate the young lawyer came to naught, efforts 
were made to wheedle him, but it was found that his 
cunning was equal to his courage. Efforts were 
made to evade him, but no one whom he proceeded 
against could escape his clutch. It is even said 
that plots were formed to silence him by assassina- 
tion, but if such plots were formed they all mis- 
carried. He marched straight on. The debtors 
had to pay, or flee beyond his jurisdiction. The 
greater part of them paid, and the remnant fled. 
Jackson's proceedings purified the financial at- 
mosphere of the settlement ; the moral tone of the 
village was elevated and strengthened ; honest men 



The Right Man in the Right Place, 65 



breathed more freely ; business men felt that they 
could no longer be cheated or browbeaten out of 
their just dues. The young Solicitor was hailed as a 
public benefactor ; and as years went on he monopol- 
ized a large part of the civil practice in the courts 
of Western Tennessee. 

Being Public Prosecutor (District Attorney), as 
well as Solicitor, it became Andrew Jackson's duty 
to suppress the lawlessness which was so general, 
and to bring the offenders to justice. This part of 
his practice was not only exciting, but dangerous. 
Scores of desperate men were in the habit of openly 
defying the courts and insulting the judges on the 
bench. The moral tone of the community was so 
low as to such matters, and the belligerent customs 
of the people were so barbarous, that offences which 
would now excite horror in Nashville, or in any 
enlightened community, were then looked upon as 
trivial. If men fought with deadly weapons, it was 
expected that both parties would be wounded, and 
one of them killed. What did men fight for, if not 
to w^ound or to kill? The idea of fighting with 
deadly weapons without adequate results, was 
looked upon with contempt. When men fought 
only with the weapons with which nature supplied 
them, they used all their natural weapons — hands, 
feet, claws and teeth. They pummeled each other ; 
they kicked each other; they stamped on one 
another; they gouged and bit one another. If a 
man lost an eye, or an ear, or a part of his nose in a 
rough-and-tumble fight, it was looked upon as a 
natural consequence of the skirmish ; and the eye- 
gouger, the ear-biter, the nose-mangier was not 



66 Geiieral A^idrew Jackson, 

considered blameworthy by the lighting portion of 
the community. Among these people, the biting 
off of a part of a man's ear or nose, " in fair fight," 
so far from being looked upon as a misdemeanor, 
was not even thought to be a breach of etiquette. 

It must not be supposed that all the inhabitants 
of the settlement relished such barbarous customs. 
On the contrary, a majority of the people disrelished 
them exceedingly, and longed to have a stop put to 
them. Andrew Jackson was the man to satisfy these 
civilized longings. Regardless of his personal safety, 
he assailed the violaters of the law with all the legal 
weapons he possessed ; he brought them to the bar 
for trial; he had them convicted, sentenced and 
punished. On one occasion, a formidable gang of 
ruffians who had long defied the law, having been 
indicted at Jackson's procurement, came into court 
in a blustering manner and insolently refused to be 
tried. Quick as lightning, Jackson drew his pis- 
tols from his saddle-bags, covered the ringleaders 
with them, and called upon the law-abiding citizens 
in the court-room to stand by him and have the law 
respected and enforced. Brave men instantly 
responded to his ringing call, and rallied to his side. 
The ruffians, awed by his commanding attitude, 
wilted before the consuming blaze of his eyes. 
They surrendered, were tried, convicted and pun- 
ished in accordance with their ill deserts. 

On another occasion, a stalwart, raging bully and 
ruffian, who was determined to thrash and maim 
Jackson, began by trampling on his toes so as to 
provoke him to offer resistance, and thereby give 
the aggressor a seeming reason for putting his 



The Right Man tJt the Right Place. 67 

detestable purpose in execution. It is needless to 
say that his effort to provoke Andrew Jackson was 
completely successful. He provoked him not only 
to resistance but to unspeakable rage. Seizing- a 
rail from the top of a fence close at hand, and using 
it as a battering-ram, Jackson dealt the ruffian a blow 
with the end of it in the pit of the stomach which 
doubled him up and felled him to the earth. The 
enraged young man trampled on the brute and then 
permitted him to rise. He made a feint to attack 
Jackson, but quailed before the power of his eye. 
Physically, he was much larger than Jackson and 
had twice his strength. But — 

" Though so tall to reach the pole, 
Or grasp the ocean with my span ; 
I must be measured by my soul, 
The mind's the standard of the man." 

In bodily capacity the bully far outmeasured Jack- 
son, but in the measurement of soul the young hero 
towered above him like Chimborazo above an ant- 
hill. And that towering soul was ablaze with just 
indignation, and the bully's vulgar, brutal courage 
shriveled when brought within the flame of a great 
soul on fire. 



68 General Aftdrew Jackson, 



CHAPTER VII. 

YOUNG JACKSON'S ADVENTURES— HIS MARRIAGE. 

It did not take many years for the inhabitants of 
Western Tennessee to learn that two things could 
be always and absolutely depended upon, namely : 
the integrity, and the courage of Andrew Jackson. 
These being the qualities most useful to the inhab- 
itants of that primitive region, their possessor, of 
course, advanced to the front rank in the respect 
and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He was'the pride 
of the settlement; ''the man," to use a phrase of 
that time, " on whom they bragged." The Western 
Judicial District of Tennessee comprised an exten- 
sive region^ which was an unbroken wilderness, 
except within the immediate vicinity of sparse settle- 
ments. The wilderness was intersected by rivers 
and cut up by streams which a few hours' rain 
would turn into impassable torrents. Through this 
wilderness Andrew Jackson, in the discharge of his 
duties, was obliged to travel with frequency, some- 
times in company with his neighbors or with 
strangers, and sometimes alone. Every furlong of 
the wilderness path was beset with dangers. The 
savages were so numerous, so alert, and so wily, it 
required the greatest vigilance, sagacity and prompt- 
ness of action to escape their snares, their arrows 
and their tomahawks. But Andrew Jackson was a 
born Indian fighter. He was more cunning and 



Yotin(^ Jackson s Adventure. 69 



more wary, as well as more brave and more brainy 
than any Indian that ever lay in ambush for a vic- 
tim. The savages knew every ford by which the 
rivers were crossed, and it was near these fords, or 
on the paths leading to them, that they most fre- 
quently sought to entrap and murder white travel- 
ers. Many a party of whites fell into their snares, 
and it was seldom that the ambushed parties escaped 
either partial or total destruction. But they could 
never entrap Andrew Jackson. Whoever traveled 
with him got through safe ; and when he traveled 
alone he foiled all the attempts of his savage foes to 
ambush him or take him at a disadvantage. His 
eye was so piercing and far-seeing, his ear was so 
acute, that his eyes and his ears gave him all the 
safeguard he needed. He sometimes passed days and 
nights without daring to shoot game or light a fire 
lest the crack of his rille or the sheen of the flames 
should betray his presence to the savages. Mr. 
Parton has collected a great number of anecdotes 
and incidents which illustrate the remarkable cour- 
age, sagacity and self-possession of young Jackson : 
*' One lonely night passed in the woods was very 
vividly remembered by Jackson. He came, soon 
after dark, to a creek that had been swollen by the 
rains into a roaring torrent. The night was as dark 
as pitch, and the rain fell heavily. To have 
attempted the ford would have been suicidal, nor 
did he dare to light a fire, nor even let his horse 
move about to browse. So he took off the saddle, 
and placing it at the foot of a tree, sat upon it, 
wrapped in his blanket, and holding his rifle in one 
hand and his bridle in the other. All through the 



JO General Andrew Jackson, 



night he sat motionless and silent, listening to the 
noise of the flood and the pattering of the rain 
drops upon the leaves. When the day dawned he 
saddled his horse again, mounted, swam the creek, 
and continued his journey. 

'' On his way home from Jonesboro Court, with 
only three companions, he reached the river Amory 
one evening at the point where it gushes out of the 
Cumberland mountains, and saw on the opposite 
bank the small, smouldering fires of a party of hostile 
Indians. Jackson, assuming the command, directed 
his comrades to abandon the road at different points, 
so as to leave no trace behind, and then led them 
into the mountains along the banks of the stream. 
x\ll night they traveled, guided only by the noise 
of the waters, and, at dawn of day, came to the edge 
of the river with the intention of crossing. The 
March rains had made it a rushing flood ; and the 
nearness of the enemy rendered the keeping of their 
powder dry a matter of the utmost importance. So, 
instead of plunging in, in the usual style of the back- 
woods, they made a raft, upon which they placed 
all their effects, except their horses, which were to 
swim over afterward. Jackson and one of his com- 
panions jumped upon the raft and pushed off, leaving 
two others upon the bank with the horses. Rude 
oars had been rigged to the sides of the raft, at 
which the two men tugged away, with their backs 
toward the head of the stream. The men on the 
shore perceived that the raft was carried swiftly 
down the stream, and cried out to Jackson to return. 
He, not aware of his swift downward progress, did 
not heed their outcries, but strove with all his might 




I 



Voting Jacksoris AdvenUires, Ji 

to gain the opposite bank. At length, discovering 
that the raft was nearing the edge of a fall, he 
attempted to return. He strained every muscle and 
nerve in his efforts to bring the soggy and lumber- 
ing craft to the shore he had left, along which his 
two friends were running to keep abreast of him. In 
vain. The raft was already rushing toward the fall 
with accelerated and accelerating swiftness, when 
Jackson tore one of the long oars away from its 
fastening, and bracing himself in the hinder part of 
the raft, held out one end of the oar to the men on 
shore. Luckily, they caught it, and were able to 
draw them in to the bank. 

" Then his comrades reproached him for not 
returning when they had first called out. His reply 
was very characteristic, and explains much in his 
remarkable career : 

" * A miss is as good as a mile. You see how near I 
c mi graze danger. Come on, and I will save you yet.* 

"He did so. They resumed their march up the 
stream, spent a second night supperless in the woods, 
found a ford the next morning, crossed, continued 
their journey, and saw the Indians no more. 

" Once, as he was about to cross the wilderness, 
he reached the rendezvous too late, and found that 
his party had started. It was evening, and he had 
ridden hard, but there was no hope of catching up, 
unless he started immediately and traveled all night. 
With a single guide he took the road, and came up 
to the camp-fires just before daylight ; but his friends 
had already marched. Continuing his journey, he 
was startled, when daylight came, to discover the 
tracks of Indians in the road, who were evidently 



^2 General Andrew Jackson. 



following the travelers. Equally evident was it to 
the practiced eyes of these men of the woods that 
the Indians outnumbered the whites. They pressed 
forward, and paused not till the tracks showed that 
the enemy were but a few minutes in advance of 
them. Then, the guide refusing to proceed, Jack- 
son divided the stock of provisions equally with him, 
saw him take his way homeward, and kept on him- 
self toward the Indians, resolved at all hazards to 
save or succor his friends. At length he came to a 
place where the Indians had left the path and taken 
to the woods, with the design, as Jackson thought, 
of getting ahead of the white party and lying in 
ambush for them. He pushed on with all speed, 
and reached his friends before dark, just after they 
had crossed a deep, half-frozen river, and were dry- 
ing their clothes by their camp-fires. He told his 
news. The march was instantly resumed. All 
that night and the next day they kept on their 
way, not daring to rest or halt, and reached 
toward evening the cabins of a company of hunt- 
ers, of whom they asked shelter for the night. 
The boon was churlishly refused, and they marched 
on in the teeth of a driving storm of wind and 
snow. They ventured to encamp at length. Jack- 
son, who had not closed his eyes for sixty hours, 
wrapped himself in his blanket and slept soundly 
till daylight, when he awoke to find himself buried 
in snow to the depth of six inches. The party of 
Indians meanwhile had pursued unrelentingly, 
until reaching the huts of the inhospitable hunters, 
they murdered every man of them, and, satisfied 



Young Jackson s Advenhtres, *J2i 



with this exploit, left the travelers to complete 
their journey unmolested."* 

Jackson's bravery and self-possession carried him 
through everything. He continually showed that 
his character was of that kind heretofore defined as 
'* centrality, the impossibility of being displaced or 
overset." It is an old and time-honored adage that 
'' Discretion is the better part of valor." A coward 
does not distinguish between discretion and coward- 
ice, and under the pretense of acting with discre- 
tion, he yields to cowardice. It is doubtful if there 
ever was a man Avho had more discretion than 
Andrew Jackson had ; but it was the discretion of a 
hero, not of a coward. It was the discretion which 
does not flee from danger, but impetuously attacks 
danger and overcomes it. He instinctively knew 
that the best way to avoid danger in desperate 
cases is not to flee from it, for the bullet enters the 
coward's back as readily as it pierces the brave 
man's breast. His discretion was of that peerless 
kind which comes from the perfect balance and 
complete control of all the faculties which enter into 
the constitution of a hero's character. We must 
remember, however, that what would be discretion 
in him might be rashness in another. An eagle can 
safely undertake what it would be folly for a gander 
to attempt. 

At the end of chapter fifth it was stated that the 
seemingly trivial act of Andrew Jackson's going to 
board with the widow Donelson was, in fact, one of 
the most important steps he ever took; that it 

* Parton's Life of Jackson, I ; 142-3-4. 



74 Gejieral Andrew Jackson, 



brought him the greatest happiness and the greatest 
misery of his life and led to tragic results. The 
time has now come to narrate these indicated 
events. 

It will be remembered that Mrs. Donelson's mar- 
ried daughter Rachel — the baby girl born in Andrew ■ 
Jackson's natal year, and the beautiful brunette of 
after years — with her husband, Lewis Robards, was 
livins: with her mother when Andrew Jackson took 
up his residence under the widow's roof. Robards 
was a shiftless, cross-grained, shallow-brained man, 
who had no affection for his lovely and amiable wife, 
whom he had often ill-treated, and on one occasion 
deserted. Ample and conclusive evidence has been 
given that Jackson was always the most chivalric of 
men in his behavior to women. It has also been 
shown that the unparalleled reverence, tenderness 
and chastity of his nature, combined with his affec- 
tion and veneration for his mother, made all women 
sacred to him. The contrast between his treatment 
of Mrs. Donelson and her daughter, and the disre- 
spectful way in which Robards behaved toward 
them, was apparent even to the dull apprehension 
of the ill-mannered husband and son-in-law. He 
saw that he was at great disadvantage in compari- 
son with the young stranger, and he resented his 
sense of humiliation as a personal outrage upon him- 
self. He tried to pick a quarrel with Jackson, but 
in vain. I never read or heard of any other instance 
in which it was impossible to pick a quarrel with 
Andrew Jackson. It is surprising that the fiery 
young man should have held himself under restraint 
in this instance, nor could he have done so had not 



Andrczv Jackson s Marriage. 75 



his chivalry been the master of his temper. It was 
impossible for Andrew Jackson knowingly to do 
anything which could possibly injure the reputation 
of a woman or expose her name to calumny. He 
knew that if, under the circumstances, he should 
fight Robards, it would be injurious to Mrs. 
Robards and also to Mrs. Donelson. So he mag- 
nanimously refused to resent the impertinence ol 
Robards, and went to board with another family. 

Robards finally deserted his wife and returned to 
Kentucky, where he sought to obtain a divorce. In 
those days, Kentucky belonged to Virginia, and in 
Virsrinia a divorce could not be obtained unless the 
legislature first passed an act permitting the plaintiff 
to bring his suit in the court having jurisdiction of 
the case. Robards made the necessary application 
to the legislature, his petition was granted, and it 
was reported that he had obtained his divorce in 
due form. After an investigation on the part of 
Mrs. Robards' triends, the fact of divorce was 
accepted beyond question. Eighteen months after- 
wards, in 1 78 1, Mrs. Robards and Andrew Jackson 
were married. Subsequently, it was discovered 
that there had been a hitch and delay in the action 
brought by Robards, and that he did not get his 
divorce at the time he Avas supposed to have 
obtained it : that in fact, he did not obtain it until 
several months after the marriage of Mrs. Robards 
with Jackson. 

When this unpleasant information was verified, as 
it soon was, the new-married pair found themselves 
in a dilemma. In the eye of the law their marriage 
was not legal, and it was necessary that the marriage 



76 General Andrew Jackson. 

ceremony should be re-performed. This was done, 
and everybody seemed to be satisfied. It too often 
happens that a marriage which the newly wedded 
pair hail as a paradisiacal oasis in the desert of life, 
turns out to be only a delusive and tantalizing mirage. 
It was not so in this case. The marriage was looked 
upon as a fortunate one for both the wife and the 
husband. Mrs. Jackson was a favorite in society ; 
handsome, vivacious, amiable ; she was a notable 
housekeeper, possessed rare executive ability, and 
idolized her husband. Jackson's commanding posi- 
tion in the community is known to the reader, and 
so is his admirable and dazzling character. That he 
loved his wife with chivalric devotion was a matter 
of course. He was pre-eminently that kind of a hus- 
band. He gave her a place alongside his mother in 
his affection and respect. Those two women, his 
mother and his wife, were enthroned in the inner- 
most sanctuary of his brave, loyal, loving heart. 
But for his spouse, the beautiful and captivating 
Rachel, he cherished that tenderness of love, that 
overmastering and everlasting loyalty of devotion, 
which can be given to a wife onl}' by a man who has 
never profaned his affections, and to whom the 
chosen of his heart is as sacred as his God. Let 
these overruling and far-reaching truths be remem- 
bered, that the reader may clearly understand and 
justly appreciate the cause and the circumstances 
of a terrible tragedy that was to follow. 



Jackson in Congress. yj 



CHAPTER VIII. 

REPRESENTATIVE IX CONGRESS — UNITED STATES 

SENATOR — BACKWOODS MERCHANT — JUDGE OF 

THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE. 

In January, 1796, a convention assembled at Knox- 
ville to form a State constitution for Tennessee. 
Jackson was one of the delegates, of which there 
were iifty-five in all. When the convention had 
been organized, a committee consisting of two 
members from each county was appointed to draft 
a State constitution. Jackson was one of the com- 
mittee. He suggested Tennessee as the name of 
the new State. The constitution which was adopted 
would now be considered intolerably conservative, 
but then it was looked upon as so radical that the 
Federalists opposed the admission of Tennessee into 
the Union. Rufus King, a fossil federalist, led the 
opposition to its admission ; Aaron Burr, a rank and 
leading democrat, was Tennessee's chief advocate. 

The State was admitted into the Union in the fol- 
lowing June. Its population entitled it to only one 
Represenrative. In the ensuing fall election, 1796, 
Andrew Jackson was elected Tennessee's first Repre- 
sentative in the Congress of the United States. 

The journey from Nashville to Philadelphia, then 
the seat of the Federal Government, was made on 
horseback, and it usually took six weeks to accom- 
plish it. It would be interesting to know what were 
the thoughts of the Honorable Andrew Jackson, as 



^8 General Andrezu Jackson. 

— now a prosperous gentleman and the honored 
Representative of the State of Tennessee in the 
Federal Congress — he rode eastward, over the 
mountains he had crossed westward only eight 
years before, an almost penniless young man. He 
was now twenty-nine years old. Up to this time 
his life had been passed in what might be called an 
environment of Christian barbarism. Man}^ of the 
Waxhaw people and a large percentage of the inhab- 
itants of Western Tennessee, though devoutly relig- 
ious, were always ready, like the Boanerges, to call 
down fire from Heaven to consume those who 
crossed their path, or, like the Apostle Peter, to cut 
off an offender's ear when the unsanctified portion of 
their nature was aggravated. Andrew Jackson had 
been a leader in this contentious and belligerent 
society from his boyhood and was saturated with 
its spirit. His arrival in Philadelphia early in 
December, 1796, was his first emergence from the 
wild civilization of the backwoods. He then, for 
the first time, came in contact with the usages of 
cultivated society. Then, for the first time, he took 
part in legislation with men who were his superiors 
in parliamentary experience, and the transaction of 
public affairs. It would be gratifying to know 
what Philadelphia society thought of him, and what 
he thought of Philadelphia society : but the record 
is blank as to such matters. The only glimpse we 
get of him is given by Albert Gallatin ^ who years 
afterwards recalled Jackson as '* a tall, lank, uncouth- 
looking personage, with long locks of hair hanging 

— * Hildreth's History, IV. 692. 



Jackson in Congress. 79 

over his face, and a cue down his back tied in an 
eel-skin ; his dress singular, his manners and deport- 
ment that of a rough backwoodsman." 

He took his seat in the House of Representatives 
on December 5, 1796, in the second (or short) ses- 
sion of the Fourth Congress. It was not an eventful 
session. The most notable part of it was that it 
was the last session of Congress to which Washing- 
ton addressed his annual speech. 

Andrew Jackson was already imbued with, in 
fact was native to the political principles on which 
the Republican party, under Thomas JefEerson, was 
founded. These principles, after a long percolation 
through the filter of events, came out, thirty-two 
years afterward, as the foundation principles of the 
Democratic party that was established on the first 
election of Old Hickory to the presidency, in 1828. 
Andrew Jackson hated a Federalist by instinct, and 
the Federalists instinctively returned his hatred. 
The poor boy of the Waxhaw settlement, who had 
literally fought his way, on his own merits, from 
poverty and obscurity to competence and fame, 
loved every poor man who honestly tried to do his 
duty manfully. It was impossible, therefore, for 
him to sympathize with the Federal aristocrats who 
were friendly to England, who had opposed the 
admission of Tennessee into the Union, who dis- 
trusted the people and looked coldly upon every- 
body outside of their own perfumed party. On the 
other hand, the only feelings with which the Feder- 
alists could contemplate Andrew Jackson, were 
akin to those which well-fed door-yard fowls experi- 
ence when they see a magnificent young eagle 



8o General Andrew Jackson, 

coming up the horizon. The fowls instinctively 
know that there is not room or prerogative for both 
them and the eagle in the same door-yard. 

The honorable member from Tennessee did not set 
his political light under a bushel ; he let it shine on 
all within the House of Representatives. The com- 
mittee on President Washington's annual address 
to Congress prepared a report which embodied a 
warm eulogium on both the President and his 
administration. Jackson was opposed to some of 
the sentiments enunciated in the report, and, w^heri 
it came to a vote, he, with eleven others, voted 
against it. It took a good deal of nerve to do such 
a thing, as the action of the dissenting Representa- 
tives was sure to be misrepresented and ascribed to 
feelings of personal ill will against Washington. 
But Andrew Jackson was never knoAvn to hesitate, 
on account of probable ill consequences to himself, 
in the discharge of what he believed to be his duty. 

It is regrettable that Jackson did not take a 
broader and more appreciative view of Washing- 
ton's administration ; it is easy, however, to under- 
stand why he did not. The course of events had 
brought the Government of the United States into 
seeming friendship with that of Great Britain, and 
into hostility to France, the recent ally of the col- 
onies in their struggle for independence. Those who 
remember the spirit of everlasting hatred of England 
that was engendered in Andrew Jackson's heart 
during that struggle for independence, will not 
wonder that it was impossible for him to look with 
favor on an administration which, in the phrase of 



Jackson in Congress. 8i 



that day, " was constantly drawing nearer to 
England." 

Jackson had come to Philadelphia mainly for the 
purpose of procuring payment from the govern- 
ment of the expenses incurred by Tennessee (then a 
Territory) three years before, in an expedition against 
the Indians. The danger to the whites was so 
imminent, that the governor — General John Sevier— 
could not wait two months for an authorization from 
the government at Philadelphia. In order to save 
the Tennessee settlements from destruction, he had to 
move at once. The expedition was successful ; but 
the government, not having authorized it, refused 
to pay the expense of it. This was a great hardship 
on the Tennesseeans who had served in the expedi- 
tion, many of whom had been wounded and worn 
down by toil and privation, and needed their pay 
to meet pressing demands. When Jackson pre- 
sented the claim, it was strongly opposed. It was 
thought that granting money to pay the claim 
would be a very disastrous precedent, and lead to 
unauthorized expeditions against Indians in all the 
Territories. There was a good deal of common 
sense in this view of the matter, but Jackson was 
able to bring forward still more common sense to 
support his side of the question. He was opposed 
by debaters of greater experience, and more elo- 
quent than himself; but they lacked his earnestness 
and pertinacity, his familiarity with the subject and 
his overpowering personality. He believed that 
the claim was just, and that it was his duty to press 
it to a victorious issue. Animated by these convic- 
tions, he stripped the question of all irrelevant con- 



82 General Andrezu Jackson. 



siderations, sheared right down into the heart of the 
matter, and there hitting the nail squarely on the 
head, he drove it home and clinched it. He won 
his case. The claim was allowed, and the sum of 
$22,816 was voted to pay the Tennessee Indian 

fighters. 

When Congress adjourned on the 3rd of March, 
1797 (John Adams being inaugurated President, 
and Thomas Jefferson Vice President the next 
day), Jackson went home. He was received 
by his fellow-citizens with enthusiastic demonstra- 
tions of affection and respect. They gratefully 
recognized the benefit he had conferred on them 
by securing from the government the payment of 
their claims for service against the Indians. The 
distribution among the needy families of the settle- 
ments of nearly twenty-three thousand dollars in 
cash gave comfort to thousands who otherwise 
would have felt the stings of want for many months. 
So highly were Jackson's services appreciated, and 
so great was his popularity, that when a vacancy 
occurred in Tennessee's representation in the United 
States Senate, nobody but the Honorable Andrew 
Jackson was thought of for the place. The gover- 
nor appointed him to fill the vacancy, and in 
December, 1797, having returned to Philadelphia, 
he took his seat in the Fifth Congress as a Senator of 
the United States. 

When Andrew Jackson took his seat as a Senator 
of the United States, he was but a few months past 
the age (thirty years) at which one must have 
arrived to render him eligible to the United States 
Senate. There was so little business to transact- 



Jackson in Congress, 83 

during the first part of the session that the situation 
became intolerably irksome to the energetic Senator 
from Tennessee. An embassy, consisting of John 
Marshall, C. C. Pinckney and Elbridge Gerry, had 
been sent to France by President Adams, to adjust 
if possible the threatening difficulties between the 
two countries, and Congress was not in a mood to 
do anything until dispatches had been received from 
the embassy. The dispatches did not come, and 
Congress idly waited for them four months. When 
the dispatches finally came, they were so alarming 
that Congress prepared for war with France, and its 
action was approved by a majority of the people. 
While Congress was waiting. Senator Jackson, 
aided by his colleague in the Senate and the Repre- 
sentative from Tennessee, persuaded the Adminis- 
tration to send a commission to the Cherokee 
Indians in Tennessee, for the purpose of buying 
from them all the land which that tribe would sell. 
The commission made a successful negotiation with 
the Cherokees, whereby Tennessee was relieved 
for many years from further trouble with them. 

Senator Jackson sympathized strongly with France 
and with the French revolutionists, and with every- 
thing which was republican and progressive. There 
are traditions that he used to become furious at 
the tardy transaction of the public business, and 
with members of Congress who favored what he 
thought to be anti-American measures and principles. 
It is even said that sometimes his anger would be 
so great that he could not articulate for several 
moments at a time, and that to the aristocratic 
Federalists, who were devotees of deportment, he 



84 General Andrew Jackson, 



was not a pleasant antagonist. He won the friend- 
ship of Aaron Burr, Edward Livingston, and other 
leading democrats ; and his relations with them had 
an influence on his subsequent career. Becoming 
utterly wearied out by the do-nothingness of the 
Senate, in April, 1798, he obtained leave of absence 
for the remainder of the session, went home, resigned 
his office, and took his place as a private citizen for 
the first time since his twenty-first year. 

It was time he relinquished the public service 
and attended to his private affairs, which had be- 
come embarrassed on account of his long absences 
from home. He owned so many large tracts of 
wild land, on which he had to pay taxes, that he 
was what is called " land poor. " While serving in 
Congress, he had mingled a good deal in Philadelphia 
society, and had made the acquaintance of some of 
the merchants of that city. In this way he had 
learned what large profits were made on merchan- 
dise bought in Philadelphia and taken to the West 
for sale, notwithstanding the enormous expense of 
transporting the goods over the mountains and 
through the wilderness. He sold several thousand 
acres of his western land for nearly seven thousand 
dollars, to David Allison, a prosperous merchant in 
Philadelphia, of great reputation as a shrewd busi- 
ness man and financier. Allison paid for the land 
by giving three promissory notes on long time, the 
last note not coming due for about six years. 
Allison's credit was so good that Jackson, by 
indorsing the notes, was able to buy merchandise 
with them in Philadelphia. This merchandise he 
sent to Pittsburg in wagons ; then by fiatboats 



Judge of the Stcpreme Court, 85 

down the Ohio to a convenient point, and thence, 
on pack-horses, through the wilderness, to Nash- 
ville. 

He opened a store in a block-house, near his res- 
idence at Hunter's Hill, two miles from his subse- 
quent abode which became so widely known as the 
Hermitage. The Indians and many white men of 
that day were such adroit and persistent thieves that 
precautions had to be taken to prevent them from 
purloining such articles as they could easily hide 
about their persons and carry away undiscovered. 
To meet this emergency, a small window was cut in 
one end of the block-house, and Indians and notori- 
ously light-fingered white men who wanted to trade 
with the merchant were required to stand outside 
and do their buying and bartering through that 
aperture. 

By the time his new business had got fairly under 
way, the Legislature of Tennessee elected him 
Judge of the Supreme Court, an office which was 
considered next to the governorship in dignity and 
importance. The governor's salary was $750 ; the 
judge's $600. Jackson had not expected the office; 
he did not want it ; he accepted it with reluctance, 
and only in deference to the principle (of which he 
was an advocate) that a citizen should neither seek 
nor decline office. As he had to hold court in differ- 
ent parts of the State, his duties took him from home 
so much that his judgeship was disastrous to his 
private interests. There are no authentic records 
with regard to the manner in which he performed 
the duties of his office, but there are many legends 
and anecdotes concerning his adventures while he 



86 General Andrew Jackson. 

was a Judge of the Supreme Court. One of the five 
noted babies born in 1782 — Thomas H. Benton — now 
grown to be a youth of seventeen, gives this inter- 
esting glimpse of the famous Judge, as he appeared 
on the bench : 

" The first time I saw General Jackson, was at 
Nashville, in 1799; ^^ ^^^ ^^e bench, and I, a youth 
of seventeen, back in the crowd. He was then a 
remarkable man, and had his ascendant over all who 
approached him ; not the effect of his high judicial 
station ; nor of the senatorial rank which he had 
held and resigned ; nor of military exploits, for he 
had not then been to war ; but the effect of his per- 
sonal qualities, cordial and graceful manners, hos- 
pitable temper, elevation of mind, undaunted spirit, 
generosity and perfect integrity." 

The testimony is unanimous that General Jackson 
was the most distinguished-looking man of his time 
in America ; also that he was one of the most elegant 
and graceful, whether on horseback at the head of 
his troops, or in a drawing-room surrounded by 
ladies ; moreover, that he was invincibly just, inflex- 
ibly upright and chaste as ice. Such a man might 
be a stern judge, but he could not fail to be a firm 
and a just one. Mr. Benton says that General Jack- 
son " was a remarkable man, and had his ascendant 
over all who approached hiin^ This is as great a 
power in a judge, as it is in a military chieftain. It 
enables a judge of indifferent legal ability to do 
what a weak man, however professionally accom- 
plished he may be, cannot do on the bench, especially 
when he has such fighting lawyers and litigants to 
deal with as Judge Jackson had. It was seldom 



Jtidge of tJie Supreme Cou7^t. 87 

that anybody ventured to dispute his decisions or to 
cavil at his rulings. Besides, his invincible love of 
justice, in combination with his fearlessness in the 
performance of his duty, and his penetrating intel- 
lect, gave him clear perceptions as to the vital issues 
in the cases which came before him for trial. He 
was quick to see the pivotal fact or principle on 
which a case turned ; and this enabled him to keep 
the lawyers to the point, to strip a case of all 
irrelevant considerations and drive it rapidly to a 
conclusion. For these reasons he could dispose of 
more cases in a day than any other judge of whom 
I have any knowledge, and the parties to the suits 
always got substantial justice ; which, of course, 
was an intolerable grievance to those who were in 
the wrong. 

Mr. Benton, in the article from which the above 
extract is taken, refers to solecisms in style and 
errors in grammar which were made by Judge 
Jackson. It was customary, during the embittered 
political contests in which General Jackson Avas 
subsequently the central figure, for his enemies to 
try to cast ridicule upon his " literary style." But 
the pedants never could gain the sympathy of the 
people for such attacks. The people then, as now, 
looked at the real substance and heart of things. 
They knew that Andrew Jackson's terrible experi- 
ences during the tender years when boys are usually 
laying the foundation for a literary style, had devel- 
oped characteristics in him which were worth 
more to his country than all the literary style which 
the universities can confer. And as a matter of 
fact, Jackson's style in writing, like his style in 



88 General Andrew Jackson. 



fighting, was just the style which fitted the time in 
which he lived. It struck right^at the core of things. 
It accomplished his purpose. If, now and then, a 
sentence did not stand straight on its legs, it was 
never broken-backed, it never sprawled, it did not 
even wobble. He was at his best in his addresses 
issued to his armies. In these, his burning thoughts 
came forth in fit burning words, often with fiery 
emphasis, and sometimes with a commanding clarion 
blast as inspiring to his troops as his heroic de- 
meanor in battle. 



Frontier Life. 89 



CHAPTER IX. 

FRONTIER LIFE A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 

One of the stories told of Judge Jackson illustrates 
his coolness and his readiness of resource at a criti- 
cal moment. As he was riding along an unfre- 
quented country road in his gig, a ruffian, upon 
whom a few years before he had inflicted a heavy 
sentence, suddenly sprang out of a clump of bushes, 
covered the judge with a loaded pistol and ordered 
him to dismount from the vehicle. Seeing there 
was no alternative, he dismounted. 

" Now dance," said the ruffian, still covering him 
with his pistol. 

The judge had on heavy boots. Looking at them 
he quietly said : 

" I can't dance in these boots. I must get my 
pumps; then I'll dance for you." 

As he thus spoke, he stepped to his valise that was 
strapped behind the gig and began to open it. 

" All right," said the ruffian, with his pistol still 
pointed at the judge's head. 

He had no sooner spoken than Judge Jackson 
whirled upon him with a cocked pistol in his hand, 
and his eyes flashing lightning. The ruffian was 
so taken aback that he lost his nerve, and also '* the 
drop," which, up to that moment, he had kept on the 
judge. Knowing that if he made the slightest 
movement, the judge would put a bullet through 



go General Andrew Jackson. 



his brain, he stood trembling before him, without 
making" any defense. 

"■ Throw down your pistol," said Judge Jackson. 

The ruffian obeyed. 

"Now dance," said the judge. 

The ruffian danced. 

*' Keep on dancing," said the judge, when the fel- 
low began to slacken his efforts from fatigue. And 
he kept the weary wretch dancing until he fell to 
the ground with exhaustion. The judge then picked 
up and discharged the man's pistol, threw it down 
beside him, re-entered his gig and drove off, leaving 
his assailant lying helpless by the roadside. 

On another occasion two wagoners attempted to 
make Judge Jackson dance in the road. In those 
days wagoners were a numerous and influential 
class. They were rough men, fond of rude fun, and 
were not respecters of official personages. One of 
their favorite pastimes was to make people whom they 
met on the road dance for their amusement. Two of 
them meeting the judge, ordered him to get out of 
his gig and dance. He resorted to the same ruse 
which he had practiced in the case of the ruffian. 
Pretending to go for his slippers, he opened his 
valise and suddenly confronted the wagoners with 
a pistol in each hand. The playful wagoners were 
dumbfounded. The judge compelled them to dance 
until they were exhausted, and then gave them a 
moral lecture which was probably far more tiresome 
to them than the dancing, but which the contiguity 
of the lecturer's pistols caused the auditors to listen 
to with seeming: respect. 

Jackson's unparalleled readiness of resource in 



Frontie7' Life, qi 



emergencies, which would have been insurmounta- 
ble by other men, was shown on a memorable occa- 
sion. It was at Clover Bottom, on the day of the 
annual horse races. It was customary, on that day, 
for the landlord of the small tavern to set a long 
table in the open air, at which hundreds of guests 
could be accommodated. Several races had been 
run, and an intermission was had for dinner. The 
long table v/as filled, Jackson at the head of it, and 
on each side Avas a vast and dense multitude. Sud- 
denly, a disturbance arose at the lower end of the 
table, and soon Jackson learned that an attempt to 
kill a particular friend of his named Patten Ander- 
son vv'as on foot. 

" They'll finish Patten Anderson this time, I do 
expect," said some one in the crowd. 

Jackson sprang to his feet. He must get to the 
side of his friend at once. But how could he do it ? 
To force his way through the dense crowd was 
impossible. Every second of time was of incalcul- 
able importance. In such a case, Andrew Jackson's 
will would find a way. It did find a way. Spring- 
ing upon the table, he rushed down its whole length, 
crying in his most clarion tones : " I'm coming, Pat- 
ten !" 'As he neared his friend, he put his hand in 
his coat pocket behind. In Tennessee, in those days, 
when a man under such circumstances put his hand 
in his coat pocket behind, it meant that he was 
reaching for his pistol. Jackson had no pistol ; but 
he had an old-fashioned steel tobacco-box with a 
stiff spring, which he snapped as he approached. 
The snap of the spring sounded like the click of a 
pistol when it is cocked. 



92 General Andrew Jackson. 



" Don't fire !" cried one of the by-standers, as 
Jackson came down the table like a cyclone. The 
hostile crowd heard the cry, looked up, saw the 
coming cyclone, and — vanished, leaving Anderson 
unharmed. 

People of this age, living in communities where 
fighting is looked upon by all with disfavor and by 
many with disgust, should not judge the inhabitants 
of the extreme West in the days of Andrew Jackson, 
by our standards. It is ungracious, it is ungrateful 
for people who reap harvests from fields which they 
now till without fear, to criticise with ungenerous 
severity the lives and conduct of the men who, con- 
stantly surrounded by danger and in the perpetual 
presence of death, reclaimed those fields from the 
wilderness. Let any man of spirit imagine how he 
would have behaved if he had lived in that country 
in those times, and been surrounded by Indians 
thirsting for his blood, and had encountered ruffians 
bent on biting off his ears or his nose, or on gouging 
out his eyes, or determined to stab him to the heart 
with a hunting-knife, or to put a bullet through his 
head ! In such a community, where the law of the 
survival of the fittest reigns supreme, a man must 
fight, or he isn't fittest, and will not long survive. 
In such a community, instead of its being a disgrace 
to fight in defense of one's rights or life, it is an 
honor, a distinction, a certificate of character. In 
such a community, as the celebrated Colonel David 
Crockett used to say : " A man's willin'ness to fight 
is a proof of his innercence." 

In those wild days even ministers of the Gospel had 
to fight, in order to hold their own against the bullies 



\ 



Frontier Life, g^; 



and the ruffians who sometimes attempted to dis- 
turb and break up religious meetings, especially 
during revival seasons. The Reverend Peter Cart- 
wright, the celebrated frontier preacher and revi- 
valist, who was a giant in size and strength, gives 
some thrilling accounts in his autobiography of the 
physical encounters he had with aggressive ruffians. 
On one occasion, when a gang of ruffians attempted 
to break up a revival meeting, he put himself at the 
head of a band of stalwart members of the church 
militant for the purpose of defending the tents of 
Zion. Here is the way the God-fearing, but not 
man-fearing, old preacher concludes the story (the 
italics being mine): 

" I threw myself in front of the friends of order. 
Just at this moment the ringleader of the mob and 
I met ; he made three passes at me, intending to 
knock me down. The last time he struck at me, by 
the force of his own effort he threw the side of his 
face toward me. It seemed at that moment I had not 
power to resist temptation^ and I struck a sudden blow in 
the burr of the ear and dropped him to the earths 

Dear old Peter's inability to resist temptation at 
that critical moment turned the scale in favor of the 
Gospel. The rowdies were driven off, the revival 
went on gloriously, and many precious souls, incar- 
nated in the bodies of wild western converts wear- 
ing hunting-knives and pistols, were garnered into 
the fold of the church. 

On another occasion, a certain Major L., taking 
umbrage at Cartwright's plain preaching, assailed 
him with profuse vituperation and challenged him 
to a rough-and-tumble fight. To his great dismay, 



94 Gene7'al Andrew Jackson. 

the Reverend Peter accepted his challenge. Chok- 
ing with rage and profanity, the major yelled : 

" If I thought I could whip you, I would smite 
you in a moment." 

" Yes, yes. Major L.," Peter quietly replied ; '' but, 
thank God, you can't whip me ; but don't you 
attempt to strike me, for if you do, and the devil 
gets out of you into me, I shall give you the worst 
whipping you ever got in your life." 

Major L. did not attem.pt to strike the brave old 
man, who " whipt him with his gaze," then turned on 
his heel and leisurely walked away. 

The oft-told Russell Bean adventure was one of 
the most thrilling incidents in Andrew Jackson's 
experience as a judge. Bean was one of the most 
desperate ruffians in Tennessee. He seldom hesi- 
tated to commit any act of brutality to which his 
passions prompted him. He even cut off a babe's 
ears, close to its head, for the purpose of avenging 
himself on the infant's mother, who was his own 
unfaithful wife. A warrant having been issued for 
Bean's arrest for a breach of the law, he refused to 
be arrested and defied the sheriff. As he was armed 
with a pistol and a hunting-knife, the sheriff did not 
dare to grapple with him. Judge Jackson was hold- 
ing court. The sheriff reported the case to him, 
saying that Bean was in front of the court-house 
and threatened to shoot anybody who attempted to 
arrest him. Authorities differ as to the details of 
what then occurred ; but the majority agree that the 
judge waxed wroth and volunteered to serve as one 
of \\\Q, posse summoned to capture Bean. Cocking 
his pistol, which was then and there a portion of the 



Frontier Life. 95 



paraphernalia of justice, he led the way to the 
court-yard, where Bean was blustering and threat- 
ening to shoot anybody who came within ten feet of 
him. Judge Jackson walked straight toward him, 
pointing his pistol directly at the ruffian's head and 
transfixing him with his eye. For an instant, Bean 
attempted to rally. But his nerve was not equal to 
the crisis, and stammering, " There's no use. Judge ; 
I give in," he put up his weapons and suffered the 
sheriff to lead him away. It is said that Bean's 
explanation of his sudden collapse was that when he 
caught Judge Jackson's eye, he *' saw shoot in it, 
and that there wasn't shoot in nary other eye in the 
crowd." 

Amos Kendall, in his Life of Jackson, tells a char- 
acteristic and thrilling anecdote, which Mr. Parton 
quotes. In the fall of 1803, while Judge Jackson 
was on his way from Nashville to Jonesboro' where 
he was about to hold a court, a friend who met him 
on the road informed him that a combination had 
been formed against him, and that on his arrival at 
Jonesboro he might expect to be mobbed. Jackson 
was then sick with intermittent fever, which had so 
weakened him that he was scarcely able to sit on his 
horse. He spurred forward, however, and reached 
the town, but so exhausted that he could not dis- 
mount without help. Burning with fever, he retired 
to his room in the tavern and lay down on a bed. A 
friend soon came in and said that in front of the 
tavern, were Colonel Harrison and a regiment of 
men who had assembled for the purpose of tarring 
and feathering him. His friend advised him to lock 
his door. But that was not Andrew Jackson's way. 



/ 



96 



General Andrew Jackson. 



Enfeebled as he was, he rose suddenly, threw his 
door wide open, and said, with that appalling empha- 
sis which won him so many battles without fighing : 

" Give my compliments to Col. Harrison, and tell 
him my door is open to receive him and his regiment 
whenever they choose to wait upon me, and 1 hope 
the colonel's chivalry will induce him to lead his 
men, not follow them." 

Nothing more was heard of the colonel or of his 
men. Judge Jackson recovered from his fever, and 
held his court as usual, without molestation. 



,\ 



Financial Disaster's. 97 



CHAPTER X. 

FINANCIAL DISASTERS. 

While Judge Jackson was so faithfully serving 
the public on the bench, his private affairs, owing to 
his frequent absences from home, were disastrously 
neglected ; moreover, heavy financial burdens were 
unexpectedly laid upon his shoulders. In 1798 and 
1799 there came a great commercial crash, which 
swept away hundreds of fortunes based on credit 
and impoverished thousands of business men. 

Among those who failed was David Allison, the 
Philadelphia merchant, to whom Jackson sold his 
wild land. It will be remembered that Allison paid 
for the land with his notes on long time ; that Jack- 
son indorsed the notes and bought merchandise with 
them. The failure of Allison threw the payment of 
the notes upon Jackson. It was a terrible blow. 
He met it, as he always met danger or trouble, with- 
out flinching, and with a resolute purpose to per- 
form his duty at whatever cost to himself. The 
notes had to be paid in Philadelphia, in hard cash ; 
and paid they were, every one of them on the day 
it became due. 

The payment of these notes was only accom- 
plished after a struggle which almost wrung tlie 
life out of Jackson's resources, and left him in a 
state of painful pecuniary embarrassment. Being 
so constantly absent from home, he could not give 
personal supervision to his store ; his partner and 



98 General Andrew Jackson, 

his assistants were inefficient, and the establishment 
became an extra burden and expense to him. 1 will 
dismiss this storekeeping business by stating that, 
after several years of unsatisfactory experiment, 
Jackson finally sold out his interest in the store to 
his partner, General John Coffee, taking the gen- 
eral's notes for the purchase price, which notes 
were never paid. Thus ended Andrew Jackson's 
career as a frontier merchant. It often happened ' 
that his debtors failed to pay him ; and so long as a ; 
man was honest and did his best, Andrew Jackson 
had not the heart to distress him by enforcing pay- 
ment. But, although many people failed to pay him, ■ 
he paid everybody. In this respect he was 
strongly contrasted with some of his illustrious con- \ 
temporaries who lived in debt, were harrassed by 
debt all their lives, and died in debt, leaving a 
legacy of shame to their children. " Who has not 
seen," exclaims Emerson, in his Essay on Prudence 
— "who has not seen the traged}^ of imprudent 
genius, struggling for years with paltry pecuniary 
difficulties, at last sinking, chilled, exhausted and 
fruitless, like a giant slaughtered by pins." 

There is no part of Andrew Jackson's life which 
the young men of this country can contemplate with 
more profit than that in which his struggles with 
financial disasters are described. But few, probably 
none of those who read this narrative, will be called 
upon to fight their country's battles in the field, but' 
it is highly probable that many of them will have 
occasion to struggle more or less with pecuniary 
embarrassments and financial misfortunes ; and in 



A 



Fijiancial Disaster's. 99 

such strugg-les they cannot find a better guide or 
model than Andrew Jackson. 

Clearly perceiving the magnitude of his em- 
barrassments, and also perceiving clearly the only 
way in which he could retrieve himself, in 1804 
Jackson resigned his judgeship, took the manage- 
ment of his affairs into his own hands, and set at 
work with characteristic energy and sagacity to 
rebuild his shattered fortunes. He sold his house 
and farm at Hunter's Hill and twenty-five thousand 
acres of wild land, paid all his debts with the 
proceeds, opened a new farm and established a new 
residence, the Hermitage. Under his personal 
supervision his affairs at once began to be prosper- 
ous. He devoted himself to agriculture and stock- 
raising. From Virginia he brought a famous race 
horse, Truxton, that was the progenitor of a long 
line of highly valued descendants. According to 
the testimony of his neighbors he was a skillful and 
in many respects a model farmer. Nothing which 
could conduce to the success of his farm was over- 
looked or neglected. Everything was attended to 
at the right time and in the right way. 

In addition to his own superior qualifications, he 
had a loving, competent, devoted helpmeet in his 
wife. Mrs. Jackson was celebrated throughout 
Western Tennessee as one of the most energetic and 
skillful housewives of her day; and it was the very 
life of her life to work with and for her idolized 
husband. Her '* woman's sphere " is worthy of the 
careful consideration of the women of this day, and 
also of the men. She lived in what is called a 
double log-house ; that is, two log-cabins placed end 



lOO General Andrew Jackson. 



to end or side by side, witli communicating doors. 
There was a log annex to this house for the accom- 
modation of guests. Near by, and at various con- 
venient localities on the farm, were cabins for the 
accommodation of the negro servants and the slaves. 
Over the '' home department " of this little kingdom 
Mrs. Jackson reigned as queen. She attended to all 
manner of duties— knitting, spinning, butter-making, 
cooking, sewing. She made her own dresses, 
superintended the preparation of clothing for the 
slaves, and in her husband's absence she looked after 
outdoor affairs ; was proud of her clear, ever-flowing 
spring ; was a good judge of horses, cattle and sheep ; 
in short, was competent and ready to oversee with 
energy, tact, kindness, skill and judgment, every 
variety of domestic functions, and bring them all to 
successful issues. 

It is probable that many a man, on reading this 
description of Mrs. Jackson's domestic competency 
and faithfulness, will say to himself: ''Would to 
heaven that I had such a wife !" To that man per- 
haps it would be advisable to say : " Would to 
heaven that your wife had such a husband as Mrs. 
Jackson had!" Remember what the poet says: 
" As the husband, so the wife is. " Andrew Jackson 
was a model husband. He loved his wife with 
chivalric devotion. As Mr. Parton says, thirty- 
seven years he kept pistols in perfect readiness for 
any man who breathed a word against her name. 
During all their married life he treated her with the 
respect, the delicacy, the tenderness, the courtesy, 
the adoring affection of an ardent lover. In his 
imagination he idolized and glorified her, until, in 



Financial Disasters. loi 



the words of Carlyle, '' to him she was indeed a 
morning star ; her presence brought with it airs 
from heaven. " And the man who thus loved and 
cherished his wife was a hero, a king of men. What 
wonder, then, that his wife loved and idolized him 
in return, and found her chief joy in being his true 
helpmeet. 

It is a truism that the love of a poodle is not to 
be despised ; and, in truth, poodles are thought 
much of now in some quarters ; but the devoted 
love of a grand old lion, and the consciousness that 
his courage and strength are perpetually at our 
service, would give such satisfaction and delight, 
especially to woman, as the love of many poodles 
could not bestow. And he or she who will look 
intelligently at this matter may understand some- 
thing of the felicitous domesticity of the Jackson 
household, in that double log-cabin and on that 
prosperous farm. When the minds, hearts and souls 
of a married pair are conjoined in perfect conjugal 
union, the masculine and feminine natures so sup- 
plement and reinforce one another that each flows 
out, in its own functional way, to the performance 
of its duties as naturally and harmoniously as the 
heart and lungs perform their respective and differ- 
ent but equally necessary functions. 

Since the disaster in the Garden of Eden, no 
earthly paradise has been secure against the 
machinations of the devil. The Jackson paradise 
was not exempt from the common perils of paradises. 
That handsome boy baby, whose hand was to 
become so skillful with the pistol, now grown to 



I02 



General Andrew Jackson. 



man 



hood, was rapidly nearing the culmination of his 
earthly destiny, and threatened to work irretrievable 
woe to the happy husband and wife who dwelt at 
the Hermitage. 



TJie Dickinson Duel. 103 



CHAPTER XI. 

PLOTS TO GET RID OF JACKSON — THE DICKINSON 

DUEL. 

Before he resigned his judgeship, Andrew Jack- 
son was elected a major-general of the Tennessee 
militia, and was thenceforth known as General Jack- 
son. He made this appellation so famous and so 
dear to the hearts of his countrymen that only his 
subsequently acquired nickname, '' Old Hickory," 
could supersede it. Even after his election to the 
. Presidency of the United States he was seldom 
called President Jackson. He was General Jack- 
son or Old Hickory to the end of his life. The Ten- 
nessee major-generalship was one of the most cov- 
eted offices in the State, and Jackson's election to it 
was another proof of the high esteem in which he 
v/as held by his fellow citizens. 

General Jackson's successful and honorable career 
in Tennessee had excited the jealousy of ambitious 
rivals who coveted the honors so freely lavished on 
him. It was not unnatural that his intolerable suc- 
cess should have exasperated his defeated competi- 
tors. One cannot entirely withhold his sympathy 
from those who were so poignantly afflicted by the 
general's rapid rise to distinction and his monopoly 
of honors. Their jealousy and their hatred were 
aggravated by the general's temper, which Colonel 
Benton says " refused compromises and bargaining, 



I04 General Andrew Jackson, 

and went for a clean victory or a clean defeat in 
every case. Hence," Colonel Benton adds, " every 
step he took was a contest ; and, it may be added, 
every contest was a victory." 

Considering all the circumstances of the case — 
including the sanguinary disposition of nearly everv 
man who had achieved any degree of distinction in 
that belligerent age and in that fighting community 
— it is not surprising that there were hundreds of 
men in Tennessee who would have been glad to 
hear of General Jackson's death. When people very 
much want a man to die, it is not impossible for 
them to find plausible ways and means for helping 
him to pass from this world of sorrow into another 
and a better world. General Jackson's enemies, 
knowing what a terrible man he was in a contest, . 
and how ready his friends were to stand by him, 
proceeded with caution and cunning. They knew 
how he idolized his wife ; they had not forgotten 
that, owing to misinformation, he had unwittingly 
married her several months before Robards had 
obtained his divorce, and therefore was obliged to 
have the marriage ceremony re-performed. They 
seized upon these facts as a means of annoying 
General Jackson. They magnified the facts ; they 
misrepresented them ; they tortured them into the 
most vilifying calumnies. The general was pro- 
foundly affected by these venomous attacks upon the 
woman whom he respected as one of the purest of 
mortals and adored as the paragon of her sex ; the 
woman who was his wife, and therefore sacred to 
him, and whom, according to his convictions, he 



The Dickinson Duel. 105 



was bound by every human and divine considera- 
tion to defend against her calumnious enemies. 

Having brought things to this pass, General Jack- 
son's enemies sought, and supposed they had found, 
a way to expedite his departure from this world. 
In the latter part of the year 1805, there was a 
young lawyer in Nashville, twenty-five years old, 
named Charles Dickinson, who had the reputation 
of being " the best pistol shot in the world." Accord- 
ing to all accounts, Dickinson deserved his reputa- 
tion. At all events, he was the best pistol shot in 
Western Tennessee. This young lawyer was " the 
marvelously beautiful baby" born in 1780, now 
grown to manhood. He was in sympathy with 
some of General Jackson's most malignant enemies. 
Inasmuch as he spoke disrespectfully of Mrs. Jack- 
son, in a public bar-room, it is probable that he was 
himself embittered against Jackson. The fact that 
Dickinson had spoken disrespectfully of Mrs. Jack- 
son was communicated to the general. Mr. Parton's 
statement about pistols kept in readiness for thirty- 
seven years by General Jackson for anybody who 
spoke disrespectfully of his wife, will recur to the 
reader's mind. No one will have any difficulty in 
imagining the effect upon his fiery nature of the 
report that Dickinson had publicly used insulting 
language about Mrs. Jackson. He immediately 
took Dickinson to task. Dickinson denied all recol- 
lection of having said anything disrespectful about 
Mrs. Jackson, and added that if he had in fact done 
so, he did it while he was drunk and irresponsible. 
This pacified the general for a time ; but rumors 
were circulated that Dickinson had repeated his 



io6 General Andrew Jackson. 



sneering innuendoes ; and at last he made an insult- 
ing remark about Mrs. Jackson in her own presence 
and hearing. 

This unfortunate occurrence, which was to have a 
tragic and fatal issue, took place on the Nashville 
race-course, where one of General Jackson's horses 
was outrunning its competitors. Mrs. Jackson, see- 
ing her husband's horse coming in far ahead of its 
rivals, clapped her hands and exclaimed : 

"■ O, he is running away from them !" 

Dickinson, who was standing near Mrs. Jackson's 
carriage, said to an acquaintance, in a tone of voice 
loud enough to be heard by her : 

" Yes, and a good deal as his owner ran away with 
another man's wife." 

Such a gratuitous and wanton insult to a lady was, 
of course, unpardonable. Mrs. Jackson told her 
husband of it. To the surprise of his friends, who 
knew with what readiness General Jackson avenged 
an insult to his wife, he behaved with exemplary 
coolness and forbearance. The truth was, the gen- 
eral's almost preternatural sagacity divined the 
intentions of those who were plotting to destroy him ; 
and while he had no intention of faltering in the dis- 
charge of what he believed to be his duty, he was 
resolved that he would make no false step. Besides, 
he was held in check by his own celebrity and high 
position. A man who has arrived at nearly forty 
years of age, who has been a Representative in Con- 
gress, a Senator of the United States, and Judge of ^ 
the Supreme Court, and is a major-general of the ^ 
military organization of his State, cannot speak and 
act with the reckless freedom with which a young 



I 



The Dickinson Dice I. 107 



man may behave who is just starting out in the 
world. 

The truth of the deplorable events which followed 
has never been, and probably never will be, com- 
pletely revealed to mortal minds. In such matters 
there is always much which is known only to the 
hearts of the chief actors, and it is this unknown 
quantity which usually determines and controls the 
course of events. As to this affair, suffice it to say 
that General Jackson verily believed there was a 
conspiracy to kill him, and that Dickinson was the 
instrument selected for that purpose. If he could 
be provoked to challenge that renowned dead-shot, 
his doom would be sealed. So far as known, no 
human being could cope successfully with Dickin- 
son on " the field of honor," if the weapons were pis- 
tols. And if he were challenged he would have the 
right to name the weapons, and would, of course, 
choose pistols. He always fired instantly, with the 
quickness of lightning, and he never missed his aim. 

In spite of all exertions on the part of well-inten- 
tioned friends to pacificate the differences between 
Jackson and Dickinson, they grew worse and worse. 
It being apparent that, if the foreshadowed duel 
should be fought on the ground that General Jack- 
son was fighting in defense of his wife and to punish 
a man who had wantonly and personally insulted 
her, he would have public sympathy on his side, 
persistent and artful efforts were made to deprive 
him of that rightful advantage. Other persons and 
other matters became mixed up in the affair. It 
seemed as though some secret, malign influence was 
at work to render a reconciliation impossible. 



To8 General Andrew Jackson, 



When Paul, after his shipwreck on the Island of 
Melita, laid a bundle of sticks on the fire, " there 
came forth a viper out of the heat and fastened on 
his hand." The fomenters of the strife between 
Jackson and Dickinson constantly laid sticks on the 
fire, knowing that out of its heat only vipers of 
hatred and vengeance could come. And finally, in 
May, 1806, General Jackson sent Dickinson a chal- 
lenge. The challenge was immediately accepted, 
but Dickinson demanded a delay of a week, in order 
that he might procure a dueling pistol, which would 
enable him to shoot General Jackson with a nicety 
and precision which would gratify his fastidious 
artistic taste in such a matter. He knew that the 
duel would be a celebrated one ; and as he expected 
to be the sole survivor, he wished to have his part in 
the deadly business performed in a way which would 
win the enduring admiration of his friends. 

General Jackson protested against the delay 
demanded by Dickinson, and offered him the choice 
of his own pistols, in order that the alleged reason 
for delay might be obviated. But Dickinson, being 
the challenged party, had the right to dictate terms, 
and he would not consent to an earlier meeting. 
So it was arranged that the duel should be fought at 
seven o'clock on the morning of May 30, 1806, at 
Harrison's Mills, on Red River, in Logan county, 
Kentucky— a long day's ride on horseback from 

Nashville. 

Rumors of the impending duel spread through the 
country, but the time and place were kept secret. 
The excitement was intense and universal. It is 
probable that not an individual who heard of the 



The Dickinson Duel. 109 

coming conflict had the least doubt as to the result. 
General Jackson was looked upon as a doomed man 
— as good as dead already. Neither Jackson nor 
his second (General Thomas Overton, an old Revo- 
lutionary soldier, who had had much experience 
in dueling) had much if any doubt as to what the 
result would be. That Dickinson would fire 
quicker than General Jackson could, and that his 
shot would be unerring, both Jackson and Overton 
conceded. That being the undoubted truth, what 
was to be done ? A serious question truly. The 
two generals studied the problem long and 
thoroughly. The conclusion which they finally 
came to was that General Jackson should receive 
Dickinson's fire, and take his chance of surviving 
and of being able to return the shot. It is doubtful 
if, under such circumstances, any man except Andrew 
Jackson could have come to such a conclusion, and 
abided by it, and awaited the crisis with cheerful- 
ness. But that old chieftain, whose sympathetic 
tenderness was so great that he could not hear a 
lamb bleat on an inclement night without getting 
out of his bed, and going forth into the storm and 
bringing the suffering little creature into the house 
and putting it in a warm place on the hearth, had 
the resolution and fortitude of a god, 

" And a heart for any fate." 

Early on Thursday morning. May 29th, the 
duelists, accompanied by their seconds and their 
surgeons, set out for Harrison's Mills. Dickinson, 
who was the first on the road, had several young 



I TO General Andreio Jackson. 

friends in his party, who went along to see him shoot 
General Jackson. They made a picnic of the trip. 
Along the route, Dickinson gratified his friends by 
giving them proofs of his skill with the pistol. He 
shot four bullets into a space that could be covered 
by a silver dollar; he severed strings by which 
cucumbers were suspended in the sun to ripen ; 
indeed, he performed wonders with his artistic pis- 
tol, and amazed his friends by what seemed to them 
the superhuman accuracy of his fire. All this was 
not merely done for sport ; there was a purpose in 
it. It was arranged that General Jackson's attention 
should be called to some of these proofs of his 
adversary's deadly skill, for the purpose of shaking 
his nerves and breaking him up. It was supposed, 
and not without reason, that a man riding all day 
along a road sown with proofs of his coming doom, 
would be disadvantageously affected thereby. It is 
probable that anybody but Andrew Jackson would 
have had his nerves shaken by such an experience,, 
but his nerves were danger proof. 

How strange, how unfathomably strange are the 
workings of the human heart ! One reason — the 
chief reason — why General Jackson rode so calmly 
to the dueling-ground, was because he was sustained 
by his trust in a superintending Providence. He 
believed that he was performing a sacred duty in 
defending his wife against her calumnious detrac- 
tors, and was sure that Heaven would smile upon 
his conjugal devotion. Nevertheless, he was 
keenly alive to the danger to which he was going. 
He was one of those thoughtful and prudent Chris- 
tian soldiers who, while trusting in God, always 



The Dickinson Duel. 1 1 1 



keep their powder dry. He spent the hours of his 
ride to the dueling-ground in serious consultation 
with his friend and second, General Overton. They 
re-examined the whole ground, analyzed the situa- 
tion thoroughly, and became as well prepared for 
the approaching emergency as was possible under 
the circumstances. The antagonists were to stand 
twenty-four feet apart, facing each other, with their 
pistols pointing downward. When the word was 
given, they were to fire as quickly as they pleased. 
As Jackson had come to the conclusion to receive 
Dickinson's fire, Overton's only hope was that, by 
some fortuitous circumstance, the general might be 
able to stand upon his feet long enough to give 
Dickinson a return shot. It seems, however, that 
General Jackson himself had no doubt as to what 
he should do, inasmuch as, years afterward, in con- 
versation upon the subject, he said to a friend: 

'' I should have hit him, if he had shot me through 
the brain." 

The parties arrived near the place of meeting, on 
Thursday afternoon, and took up their respective 
quarters at log taverns about a mile distant from 
each other. In after years, Jackson's landlord used 
to tell his guests that the general ate a hearty 
supper, conversed pleasantly, and smoked his pipe 
with a relish before he went to bed ; that he was in 
equally good humor in the morning, and rode off 
gayly to the dueling-ground. To one of his friends, 
who asked him how he felt about the issue of the 
duel, the general replied : 

" Oh, I'm all right ; I shall wing him, never fear." 

Both parties arrived punctually on the ground, 



J 12 General Andrew J ackso7i. 

which was in the midst of a forest. The twenty- 
four feet were measured off, and the principals took 
their places. Dickinson was one of the handsomest 
young- men of his day. His friends said he never 
looked more handsome or more noble than when he 
stood there, under the great forest trees, await- 
ing the word to lire. According to the testi- 
mony of all parties, and especially that of General 
Overton, Jackson looked like a demi-god. His tall 
form was erect, his countenance calm, stern, reso- 
lute. The majesty of his presence was overwhelm- 
ing ; as the appearance of a man, whose heart was 
fearlessly braving the consciousness that in all prob- 
ability his last few moments of life had come, well 
might be. 

General Jackson wore a loose frock coat buttoned 
over his chest. It is reported that Dickinson told 
his second on which button of that coat his bullet 
would strike. It was a button, as he supposed, 
directly over Jackson's heart. In a few moments 
all the forms of the duello had been complied with. 
The combatants had saluted each other with the 
courtes}^ of the drawing-room ; both said they were 
ready, and instantly General Overton, who had won 
the right to give the word, gave it in a loud and 
shouting tone. True to expectation, Dickinson 
fired instantly, and hit the very button of Jackson's 
coat that he had indicated. Overton saw the puff 
oi dust which followed the stroke of the bullet, sup- 
posed that General Jackson was fatally hit, and 
looked to see him fall. But he did not fall. A grim- 
mer expression spread over his countenance, but he 
stood erect. He raised his pistol and took deliber- 



V" 


■■4 




ui 


'> 


«£? 




1 




The Dickinson Duel, 113 

ate aim at his adversary. Dickinson was thunder- 
struck, and exclaimed : " Great God ! have I 
missed him ?" falling back from his position as he 
spoke. " Back to your place !" yelled Overton, 
placing his hand on his pistol. Dickinson stepped 
back and stood erect, with his side toward Jackson, 
and looking away from him. Jackson took aim, and 
pulled the trigger with deliberation. No explosion 
followed. The trigger had stopped at half-cock. 
Re-cocking his pistol, Jackson again took aim and 
fired. A ghastly pallor overspread Dickinson's 
face ; he tottered ; he staggered ; he was about to 
fall, when his friends caught him in their arms and 
laid him on the ground. He was shot through the 
lower part of his body. He was removed to his 
quarters at the tavern. His wound was mortal. 
He died at nine o'clock in the evening of that day. 

General Jackson, his surgeon, and General Over- 
ton at once left the ground. When they had gone 
some way towards the place where they had tied 
their horses, the surgeon, happening to look down, 
saw that blood was running into Jackson's shoes, 
and exclaimed : 

" General Jackson, are you hit ?" 

" Oh, I believe that he has//«/^^<^ me a little, but 
say nothing about it there,'' pointing to the tavern. 

On examination, the surgeon found that Dickin- 
son's bullet had broken a couple of ribs and grazed 
the breastbone. The bullet had gone to the very 
spot at which Dickinson aimed ; but at that moment, 
a puff of wind blew Jackson's loose frock-coat a lit- 
tle to one side and saved him from probable instant 
death. The wound, though not fatal, was a bad 



114 General Andrew Jackson, 

one ; hut it did not flurry him, and it was only by 
accident that his surgeon discovered it. The gen- 
eral mounted his horse with a little assistance, and 
rode to his tavern. A negress was churning near 
the door, and learning from her that " the butter 
had come," he asked for a drink of buttermilk. She 
gave him a quart mugful, which he drank at one 
draft. His wound was then dressed. Immediately 
after the surgeon got through dressing the wound, 
General Jackson sent to inquire after his antago- 
nist's condition, and offered any aid which he or his 
surgeon could render him. He received word that 
no aid could be rendered to the wounded man by 
any one ; but he continued his polite attentions to 
Mr. Dickinson's party until they were no longer 
required. General Jackson sedulously concealed 
the fact that he was wounded, giving as a reason 
for his precautions that he did not wish Dickinson 
to know of his wound, because, as he used frankly 
to say : 

'* Dickinson considered himself the best shot in 
the world ; he was certain that he would kill me at 
the first fire, and 1 didn't want him to have the 
gratification of even knowing that he had touched 



me. 



The duel occasioned intense and wide-spread 
excitement. General Jackson's enemies utilized it 
to the utmost for the purpose of making headway 
against his popularity, and, if possible, of depriving 
him of the admiration and affection which the peo- 
ple of Tennessee had so long felt for him. For a 
time they made some progress. But it was vain to 
fight against Andrew Jackson. No matter what 



The Dickinson Duel. i\c 



faults he had, no matter what mistakes he made 

( and who has not faults, who does not make mis- 
takes ?)— his magnificent qualities and his vast use- 
fulness to his fellow-citizens always brought them 
back to their allegiance to their favorite hero. 



ii6 Genei^al Andrew Jackson. 



CHAPTER XII. 

burr's conspiracy. 

In the midst of the excitement about the Dickin- 
son duel, Aaron Burr arrived in Nashville, on his 
secret expedition against Louisiana and the Spanish 
possessions in Texas. 

Burr began his treasonable plottings while he 
was Vice-President of the United States, and when 
his term expired, on March 4, 1805, he had already 
woven a network of conspiracy which reached from 
New York to New Orleans, from Philadelphia to 
St. Louis. In this network were entangled many 
influential persons, only a few of whom were let 
into the secret of Burr's ulterior designs. Jona- 
than Dayton, ex-United States Senator from New 
Jersey, was one of his chief confederates. Senator 
John Smith, of Ohio, was deep in his confidence, 
and so was the British Minister at Washington, who 
supposed it would be agreeable to his government 
to have the Union dismembered, and held out to 
Burr hopes of aid from Pitt, then PrimeMinister. The 
majority of Burr's dupes supposed, in a vague sort of 
way, that he was preparing for an expedition against 
Mexico and other Spanish possessions in America. 
At that time the Spanish possessions in America 
were looked upon as lawful prey by the inhabitants 
of the Western and Southern States, and the senti- 
ments of Northern and Eastern people were not 
so strongly tempered with a sense of national obli- 
gations as to make them actively antagonistic to 



Burrs Co7tspzracy. 117 



the schemes of filibusters. In every part of the 
country, and especially in the West and Southwest, 
there were numberless adventurers destitute of prop- 
erty and of the means of earning a livelihood, dis- 
contented with their lot, ambitious of distinction, 
weary of the monotony of peaceful life, and eager 
to engage in any enterprise which promised to give 
them opportunities to gratify their lawless aspira- 
tions and better their condition. Such men were 
easily deluded into becoming the dupes and accom- 
plices of Burr and his co-conspirators. 

Nor were disunion sentiments then unknown ; it 
is shown by evidence now accessible that they were 
not uncommon. In truth, but very little love for 
the Union had been developed, and the physical 
conditions of the country were adverse to the 
growth of a national spirit. The different sections 
of the country were separated by vast ranges of 
mountains, and by wildernesses stretching for hun- 
dreds of miles and swarming with hostile savages. It 
took weeks, and in some cases months, for the 
inhabitants of widely separated regions to communi- 
cate with one another. Steamboats, railroads, tele- 
graphs were then unknown. A traveler can now 
go from San Francisco to St. Petersburg or Con- 
stantinople sooner than he could then go from Phil- 
adelphia to New Orleans, and a message can now be 
sent around the world in less time than it could 
then be sent from Boston to Cambridge, from New 
York to Harlem, or from Washington to George- 
town. It is difficult, perhaps it is impossible, for 
us of this generation to appreciate in all its force 
the effect which such a state of things had upon 



ii8 Gene7'al Andj'ew Jackson. 

' * 

the minds and the affections of the people into 
whose keeping the destiny of the United States was 
then given. New England and the Southwest, the 
Seaboard States and the trans-x\lleghany States, in 
many respects were foreign to one another. The 
interests of one section were, or were supposed to be, 
hostile to the welfare of other sections. For the 
most part, the inhabitants were poor, burdened with 
debt, and a prey to. discontent ; and it is a habit of 
discontented people to charge their misfortunes 
upon the government, and to imagine that their con- 
dition would be bettered by a revolution, or by such 
a reformation of the government as would lead to a 
fundamental readjustment of their political rela- 
tions. 

It would be unjust for us of this da}^ to condemn 
with too great severity any lack of patriotism or 
laxity of principle exhibited by the American people 
with respect to these matters a hundred years ago. 
Despite all theories to the contrary, men are 
governed in worldly affairs by what they believe to 
be most conducive to their worldly interests. 
Whatever is hostile to those interests they will 
oppose; whatever is favorable to them, they will 
support. A hundred years ago, the great need of 
the inhabitants beyond the Alleghanies was an out- 
let lor their commerce, whereby their products 
could reach the marts of the world. That outlet — 
and it was the only one — was the Mississippi river. 

** That outlet, " as General Jackson said in his 
address to his troops in 1812 — "that outlet blocked 
up, all the fruits of the Western man's industry rot 
upon his hands; open, and he carries on a commerce 



Burrs Conspiracy. 1 1 9 

with all the nations of the earth." The mouths of the 
Mississippi were in the possession of Spain, whose 
rulers interposed obstructions to Western commerce 
which were intolerable to the inhabitants of Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee and the whole trans- Alleghany 
country. The United States Government could not 
or would not do anything to remove these obstruc- 
tions, and the Western people naturally resolved to 
take the redress of their grievances into their own 
hands. Their plan for redressing their grievances 
was a radical one — a plan of the true '* wild Western " 
kind. They proposed to wrest the mouths of the 
Mississippi from the Spaniards, take possession of 
the whole country, unite the conquered territory 
with their own, form a trans-Alleghany Union and 
assume that independent station among the nations 
of the earth to which nature and their own achieve- 
ments would entitle them. 

Fortunately, the spirit of disaffection, which for 
years had been growing more and more ripe, was 
allayed in 1795, when the Federal Government, by 
a treaty with Spain, acquired the right of deposit 
at New Orleans, for three years, which temporarily 
relieved Western commerce of the intolerable im- 
positions to which it had been subjected by the 
Spaniards. Then, too, for the first time, the 
Western people caught a glimpse of the national 
dignity and material advantage which the Federal 
Union conferred upon them. They clearly saw 
that it was respect for the growing power of the 
United States which caused Spain to grant the right 
of deposit— a right which the court of Madrid would 
never have accorded to a feeble trans-Alleghany 



I20 General Andrew Jackson. 

republic. From that time Union sentiments 
rapidly increased in the West; but owing to con- 
stant quarrels between Americans and Spaniards, 
the deep seated hostility to Spain grew stronger 
and stronger from year to year. Even, when by the 
cession of Louisiana to France in 1800, and its pur- 
chase by the United States in 1803, all restrictions 
on Western commerce were removed, the desire of 
the trans-AUeghany inhabitants to avenge themselves 
on Spain survived in full vigor. Hence Burr's 
alleged design to seize all the Spanish territory east 
of the Rio Grande, and if possible to conquer 
Mexico, excited no effective disapprobation west of 
the Alleghanies. The desire to " extend the area " 
of freedom " was as strenuous in the people of that 
region, in 1806 and 1807 as it was in their descend- 
ants forty years later, when, in 1846 and 1847, they 
enthusiastically rushed to the contest for that same 
territory under the lead of General Taylor and 
General Scott. 

In New Orleans the situation was favorable, not 
only to Burr's schemes of conquest, but also to his 
treasonable plans for disunion. The French and 
Spanish inhabitants of that city, and indeed of 
Louisiana, hated the Government of the United 
States, and longed for the restoration of the 
Territory either to France or Spain. Governor 
Claiborne was odious to the people, and General 
Wilkinson, the commander of the department, was 
despised by them. Monsieur Laussat, who had 
been the French prefect at New Orleans, and re- 
mained there for a time to protect French interests, 



Burr s Conspiracy, 121 



ia writing to his government, thus speaks of those 
two men: 

" It was hardly possible that the government of 
the United States should have made a worse begin- 
ning, and that it should have sent two men (Messrs. 
Claiborne, Governor, and Wilkinson, General,) less 
fit to attract affection. -5^ * ^ They have on all 
occasions, and without delicacy, shocked the habits, 
the prejudices, the character of the population. " 

Wilkinson was in the pay of Spain and also one of 
Burr's most trusted accomplices. Judge Prevost, 
of the Superior Court at New Orleans, was Burr's 
stepson. James Brown, Secretary of the Territory, 
was one of Burr's henchmen. Many of the leading 
citizens were leagued with Burr, and it was believed 
that the inhabitants of the city and of the Territory 
could be depended upon to abet any movement 
which could relieve them from subjection to the 
hated government of the United States. Daniel 
Clark, the richest man in the Southwest and 
Louisiana's first representative in Congress, was 
supposed to be in favor of the movement ; but 
becoming alarmed, he, for the purpose of shielding 
himself, on September 7, 1805, w^rote Wilkinson a 
letter indicating that he was not in the secret, and 
expressing horror at the idea of a plot for dissolving 
the union of which he professed to have recently 
heard. "The tale," he wrote, "is a horrid one if 
well told. Kentucky, Tennessee, the State of Ohio, 
the four territories on the Mississippi and Ohio, with 
part of Georgia and Carolina, are to be bribed, with 
the plunder of the Spanish countries west of us, to 
separate from the Union." 



122 General Andrew Jackson. 

Burr had influential accomplices all through the 
West. Harman Blennerhasset, a comparatively 
wealthy Irishman, who had created a sort of frontier 
paradise on an island in the Ohio river, a short dis- 
tance below Parkersburg, became one of Burr's 
most enthusiastic dupes, and his wife shared his 
folly. Burr's daughter Theodosia, the wife of 
ex-Governor Alston, of South Carolina, accom- 
panied her father to the island in the Ohio, and cast 
an irresistible spell over Mrs. Blennerhasset. The 
enthusiastic Irish pair indulged in the wildest 
dreams. Burr was to be Emperor of Mexico ; 
Blennerhassett was to be one of his high officers 
and stand near the throne of Aaron the First, and 
Mrs. Blennerhassett was to be maid-of-honor to the 
imperial Princess Theodosia. It was not long 
before those deluded people were rudely awakened 
from their romantic dream to find themselves the 
laughing-stock of the public and bankrupted in 
fortune. 

Burr's visit to Nashville was made for the pur- 
pose of furthering his designs. Thousands of Ten- 
nesseeans were ready to engage in an expedition 
against the Spanish possessions. Hardly any 
American living west of the AUeghanies would have 
withheld his sympathy from such an expedition. 
Andrew Jackson certainly would not. The building 
of flatboats was then an important industry in the 
west. General Jackson and Colonel Coffee had 
facilities for building them at Clover Bottom, on 
Stone's river, an affluent of the Cumberland. Burr 
had bargained with them to build five boats for him, 
in which his Tennessee followers could float down 



Burrs Conspiracy. 123 



the Cumberland and the Mississippi to their destin- 
ation. His avowed object was the occupation and 
peopling- of a vast tract of land on the Washita river, 
the title to which he professed to have purchased 
from the representatives of the original Spanish 
grantees. He did not disguise the fact that the 
enforcement of his rights would probably cause a 
collision with the Spanish authorities ; that such a 
collision would bring- on war, and that Burr would 
improve the occasion to conquer Mexico, become 
emperor of that country, and bring it into friendly 
alliance with the United States. To further such a 
scheme, General Jackson was willing to build boats 
at a profit. He had not the slightest suspicion that 
Burr was plotting treason. But in November, 1806, 
while Burr was in Kentucky, Jackson was warned 
that he was planning a dissolution of the Union. 
This caused a violent and total change of feeling on 
the general's part. He wrote a warning letter to 
Governor Claiborne at New Orleans, and another 
to President Jefferson, offering the services of his 
division of militia, '' In the event of insult or 
aggression made on our government or country 



FROM ANY QUARTER."* 



Burr returned to Nashville December 14, 1806, and 
called at the Hermitage. General Jackson was not 
at home. Mrs. Jackson received him coldly ; so did 
Colonel Coffee. On December 19th it was rumored 
that a proclamation by President Jefferson denounc- 
ing Burr had been received in Nashville. On Decem- 
ber 22nd Burr left Clover Bottom, in two unarmed 

*Parton I, 319. 



J 24 General Andrew Jackson, 



boats carrying a few of his deluded followers. 
Among his dupes was a young man named Stokel}- 
D. Hays, a nephew of Mrs. Jackson's, about seven- 
teen years old, by whom General Jackson sent a let- 
ter to Governor Claiborne. The young man's father, 
Colonel Hays, was an old friend of Burr's. Having 
become reduced in his circumstances, he had 
acceded to a proposition made by Burr to take his 
son Stokely under his protection, provide for his 
education and give him a start in life. In after- 
wards narrating the circumstances which induced 
him to accompany Burr, young Hays said :* 

" In the winter of 1806-7 the Colonel [Burr] came 
to Nashville, and sent for me when at school near 
there, and on meeting him he claimed the promise 
which had been made to him on his first visit — but 
stated he was going by way of the Mississippi, and 
that I must accompany him, and 'that he had seen 
my father and obtained his consent ; that he received 
me as a son, and I must consider him in the char- 
acter of a father. I observed to him that 1 must 
see and consult my friends before I gave my final 
consent. On advising with them, some doubt of 
Mr. Burr's object was suggested, but he having 
pledged his word of honor that he had nothing in 
view hostile to the best interests of the United States, 
I determined to go with him. Mr. C. C. Claiborne 
was at that time Governor of Louisiana, and an old 
friend of my father's, and had requested him to per- 
mit me to go to New Orleans as his private secre- 
tary. To him General Jackson wrote a letter, and 

*Parton I, 321. 



Burrs Conspiracy, 125 

gave me to deliver, urging it on me, in the most 
earnest manner, to leave Burr, if at any time I should 
discover he had any views or intentions inimical to 
the interests or integrity of the government." 

It would take a very prejudiced mind to see in 
this transaction any evidence of General Jackson's 
sympathy with Burr's treason. But Mr. Henry 
Adams, in his recently published history* presents 
this incident in a way which he doubtless hopes will 
turn it into evidence against Jackson's patriotism. 
In fact, Mr. Adams, in his sketch of this conspiracy, 
seems to have resolved to make it appear that Gen- 
eral Jackson was cognizant of and in sympathy with 
Burr's treasonable designs, and in order to carry 
out his purpose he does not hesitate to indulge in 
felonious innuendoes and repeated indirect falsifica- 
tions of the historic record. As an example of his 
method, his use of the young Hays incident will 
now be given : 

*' Without further hindrance," Mr. Adams says, 
" Burr then floated down the Cumberland River, 
taking with him a nephew of Mrs. Jackson, furnished 
by his uncle [General Jackson] with a letter of in- 
troduction to Governor Claiborne, — a confidence 
the more singular because Governor Claiborne could 
hardly fail, under the warnings of General Jackson's 
previous secret letter, to seize and imprison Burr 
and every one found in his company. Thus, by 
connivance, Burr escaped from Nashville three 

* History of the United States of America During the Sec- 
ond Administration of Thomas Jefferson. Vol. I, 290. 



126 



General Andrew Jackson, 



da3^s after the news of the President's proclamation 
had arrived." 

It will be observed that Mr. Adams has no author- 
ity for saying that General Jackson gave young 
Hays " a letter of introduction to Governor Clai- 
borne." Hays does not authorize such a statement. 
He says that Jackson wrote a letter to Claiborne J 
and gave it to him [Hays] to deliver. That is not 
the way one speaks of a letter of introduction given 
to himself. Moreover, it is evident that young Hays 
did not need '' a letter of introduction " to Claiborne. 
The Governor was intimate with the young man's 
family, and had requested his father to let him come 
to New Orleans as his (the Governor's) private sec- 
retary. The fair inference is that the letter which 
General Jackson wrote was a letter of warning and 
explanation to Claiborne. This inference is strongly 
supported by the fact that when the General gave 
the letter to Hays to deliver, be " urged it on " the 
young man, '* in a most earnest manner, to leave 
Burr if at any time he should discover " anything 
treasonable in his conduct or his intentions. All of 
this information Mr. Adams withholds from his 
readers ; and over and over again he resorts to the 
same method for the purpose of unfairly making 
what he imagines to be a point against General 
Jackson. 

Mr. Adams had all the facts before him. They 
are given in extenso, and with great fullness of detail, 
in Mr. Parton's comprehensive ** Life of Jackson, to 
which Mr. Adams repeatedly refers, and of whichj 
he sometimes makes use. Many attempts werej 
made by General Jackson's enemies, especially durJ 



Burros Conspiracy. 1 2 7 

ing his campaigns for the Presidency, to make his 
countrymen believe that he was privy to Burr's 
treason. But although it was easy to show, what 
the general never denied, that he was Burr's per- 
sonal friend, and that after Burr's trial and acquit- 
tal he disbelieved the charges of treason that had 
been made against him, it was impossible to con- 
vince the American people that General Jackson 
ever sympathized with any attempt whatever to 
dismember the Union, or that he would ever have 
winked at any scheme involving treason to the flag 
which from his childhood he was ever ready to 
defend with his life. 

To return to Burr, whom we left floating down 
the Cumberland. He had been gone but a short 
time when the President's proclamation was pub- 
lished in Nashville, and caused a prodigious excite- 
ment. Burr was burnt in effigy in the public 
square ; General Jackson called out the militia ; 
volunteers offered their services ; the people of 
Western Tennessee were ablaze with patriotic 
fervor and ready to turn out e7i masse in defence of 
the Union. But the excitement soon died out. 
Burr's chief accomplices deserted him. General 
Wilkinson was eager to catch and shoot him, in 
order to save himself from exposure and disgrace — 
perhaps from death. Burr's nerve failed him, and 
ignominiously deserting his dupes, he fled, disguised 
in the coarse attire of a Mississippi boatman. His 
arrest, his trial at Richmond, and his acquittal fol- 
lowed in due course. Burr was a born traitor and 
conspirator ; but he was so deficient in that grand 
executive ability which is indispensable to him who 



128 



General Andrew Jackson. 



would overthrow governments and carry out 
schemes of conquest, and was so destitute of even 
that low grade of honor and principle which some- 
times binds thieves together, that his treasonable 
projects lacked all power of cohesion and disinte- 
grated at the first shock of exposure. 



The War q/ iSi2. 129 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE WAR OF 1 8 12 — GENERAL JaCKSON IN THE 
FIELD AND IN HIS GLORY. 

War was declared against Great Britain by the 
Government of the United States on June 12, 18 12, 
The declaration had been anticipated for many 
months. As early as the preceding February, 
Thomas H. Benton (one of the babies of 1782), then 
a lawyer, thirty years of age, living in Nashville, 
received intelligence from Washington which con- 
vinced him that the declaration of war would be 
made in a few months. Benton was on General 
Jackson's military staff, was ambitious for military 
glory, and was animated by intense and lofty senti- 
ments of patriotism. The news from Washington 
was accompanied by an act of Congress, authorizing 
the President to accept organized bodies of volun- 
teers to the number of fifty thousand, to serve for 
one year, and to be called into service when an 
emergency should require it. 

This news and the act of Congress fired Benton's 
brave and patriotic heart. He saw that here was a 
probable opportunity to gratify his thirst for mili- 
tary glory in the most legitimate way, by helping 
to repel an arrogant and aggressive foe from the 
shores of his native land. That very hour, he 
mounted his horse and rode to the Hermitage^ 
where he had long been a favored guest with both 
the master and the mistress. Colonel Benton told 



130 General Andrew Jackson, 



the story of this ride and of its consequences, in the 
House of Representatives, forty-three years after- 
ward (1855), when General Jackson's sword was 
presented to Congress. It was a cold, wet day, and 
the ride was long and difficult, over the miry roads 
of early spring. Benton reached his general's log 
house about twilight, and found him sitting alone 
before the fire, with a lamb and a child between his 
knees. 

** He started a little," says Benton, " called a ser- 
vant to remove the two innocents to another room, 
and explained to me how it was. The child had 
cried because the lamb was out in the cold, and 
begged him to bring it in, which he had done to 
please the child, his adopted son, then not two years 
old." 

The impetuous Benton lost no time in communi- 
cating the news and his project for action. He 
knew very well that Jackson could raise volunteers 
enough for a general's division, and urged him to 
issue the call. Before leaving his office, Benton 
had drawn up a plan for the organization of three 
regiments, to be commanded by John Coffee, 
William Hall and Thomas H. Benton. If these 
three regiments should be in good condition for 
service at the outbreak of war, the Administration, 
in the urgent need that would then exist for troops 
ready to take the field, would gladly accept their 
services, although, as Benton knew, Jackson was 
out of favor with the Administration. He had 
come in collision with the Government at the time 
of Burr's trial ; he had also had controversies with 
agents of the Government (especially with one Silas 



The War 0/ iSi2, 131 



Dinsmore, an Indian agent), which had caused a 
good deal of trouble. So tar as Jackson was known 
at Washington, he was known as a man who was 
always ready to take the responsibility of carrying 
out his own plans without regard for red tape. 
For these reasons Benton was somewhat apprehen- 
sive that the Administration would hesitate to con- 
fer military power on General Jackson ; hence his 
prudential proceedings. Benton laid his plan for 
the organization of the three regiments on the table. 
To use his own language, General Jackson "was 
struck with it, adopted it, acted upon it." A call 
was promptly issued ; companies were formed. In 
a few weeks, more than three thousand men were 
enrolled, and there was a general drilling of soldiers 
and furbishing of arms throughout the western part 
of Tennessee. 

All turned out very nearly as Colonel Benton had 
anticipated. The news that war with Great Britain 
was declared on the twelfth of June, reached Nash- 
ville in eight days. On the twenty-fifth of June, 
which was about as soon as the business could be 
accomplished, General Jackson offered to President 
Madison, through the governor of Tennessee, the 
services of his division of twenty-five hundred volun- 
teers. The offer was most cordially accepted. The 
Secretary of War wrote that the President received 
the , tender of service by General Jackson and his 
troops " with peculiar satisfaction," and ** in accept- 
ing their services, the President cannot withhold an 
expression of his admiration of the zeal and ardor 
by which they are animated." 

Everybody in Tennessee seemed to be delighted 



132 General' Andrew Jackson, 



with the result of the movement. Governor Blount 
publicly thanked General Jackson and his division 
for the honor they had done the State of Tennessee 
by coming forward so promptly to the service of 
their country. 

The War of 18 12 began with the bold and judi- 
cious but ill-conducted attempt upon Canada, which 
ended in shame and disaster. The surrender of 
Detroit by General Hull and subsequent military 
miscarriages covered our arms with disgrace. Be- 
sides, the failure of the Canada expedition left the 
British forces free to attempt the capture of New 
Orleans, which, it had long been supposed, would be 
among their first objects. General Wilkinson, a con- 
spicuously incompetent officer, still commanded at 
New Orleans, but the place was wholly unprepared 
for defense. 

In October, 18 12, a despatch came from Washing- 
ton to the Governor of Tennessee, asking him to 
detach fifteen hundred of the Tennessee troops to 
re-enforce General Wilkinson at New Orleans. The 
governor at once issued the requisite orders to Gen- 
eral Jackson, who, in his turn, named the loth of 
December, 18 12, for the troops to rendezvous at 
Nashville, armed and equipped for winter service. 

The address which General Jackson issued to the 
troops was well calculated to kindle their enthusiasm. 
He appealed to their patriotism, to their pride and 
to their interest. He told them that Nature herself 
had committed to the people of the Western country 
the defense of the lower Mississippi, "the only out- 
let" for their produce. 

The Mississippi *' blocked up, all the fruits of the 



The War of \Z\2. 133 



western man's industry rot upon his hands ; open, 
and he carries on a commerce with all the nations of 
the earth. At the approach of an enemy in that 
quarter, the whole Western world should pour forth 
its sons to meet the invader, and drive him back 
into the sea." 

The troops, however, needed no words of exhor- 
tation to increase their zeal. When the day ap- 
pointed for the rendezvous came, more than two 
thousand men presented themselves for inspection, 
bringing their own arms and ammunition, andwearing 
every sort of costume, more or less resembling mili- 
tary uniform. The majority were attired in hunting 
shirts, with such other garments within their reach 
as seemed best adapted to winter wear. It so 
chanced that the day (December 10, 1812) appointed 
for the assembling of the troops, was one of the 
coldest ever known in Western Tennessee, and the 
ground was covered deep with snow. The quarter- 
master, the late Major William B. Lewis, in view of 
a possible cold snap, had provided a thousand cords 
of wood for the use of the troops, which he supposed 
would last them until they had embarked on board 
the fiat-boats on which they were to descend the 
river to New Orleans. It zuas all burned the first 
night. General Jackson and the quartermaster were 
out all night, seeing that the men were sheltered 
and warmed, that drunken men were brought near 
a fire, and that sleeping sentinels should not freeze to 
death on their posts. 

About six o'clock in the morning, after having 
thus tramped through the camp all night. General 
Jackson entered a tavern in Nashville. It happened 



r 



134 General Andrew Jackson. 



that one of those pestiferous creatures constituting 
the class of chronic grumblers, who had passed the 
night comfortably in bed, was finding fault with the 
authorities for having assembled such a large body 
of troops without suitable accommodations. He 
was loud in his denunciation of the officers who, he 
said, had the best accommodations in town, while 
the men were exposed to the terrible inclemency of 

the weather. 

" You infernal scoundrel," roared the general, 
" sowijig disaffection among the troops ! Why, the 
quartermaster and I have been up all night making 
the men comfortable. Let me hear no more such 
talk, or I'll ram that red-hot andiron down your 

throat !" 

There was '' no more such talk." I have italicized 
one of the general's wrathful sentences to call 
attention to his unsleeping canniness, even w^hen he 
was most enraged. '' Sowing disaffection among 
the troops" was an offense of such a serious nature 
that it might have justly been punished with a red- 
hot andiron in the throat of the offender, even 
though the disaffection was sown in the isolation 
of a bar-room. 

Fortunately, such cold periods in the latitude of 
Tennessee are as brief as they are sometimes severe. 
In a day or two the weather was warm enough, and 
in a few days the little army was ready to begin the 
descent of the Cumberland. On one of these days 
of waiting, there was a grand review of the troops 
by the governor, who complimented their general 
highly upon their appearance and discipline. The 
general wrote in response a letter which, glowing 



The War 0/1^12, 135 

as it is, truly expressed his own feelings and those 
of the volunteers, the flower of the young men in 
the western counties. 

" We have changed the garb of citizens for that of 
soldiers," said he. " In doing this, we have none of 
us changed our principles; for let it be recollected, 
as an invariable rule, that good citizens make good 
soldiers. The volunteers have drawn their swords 
for no other purpose than that of defending their 
country against the hostile attacks of their enemies, 
the British, and their barbarous allies, the Indians. 

* "^ We hope that your Excellency shall never 
blush for the honor of Tennessee. Your Excellency 
will not call it presumption when the volunteers 
say that it is their full determination to return cov- 
ered with laurels or die endeavoring to gather them 
in the bloody field of Mars." 

On the seventh of January, 18 13, the boats at 
length were ready. The foot-soldiers went on 
board, and the fleet began the descent of the 
Cumberland River, while Colonel Coffee, with the 
mounted regiment, set out on his march across the 
country, with orders to join the infantry at Natchez. 

The commander-in-chief was in the highest spirits. 
From his early youth he had taken a peculiar 
interest in military affairs and in military men. His 
heart swelled with pride and confident expectation 
as he saw the boats glide from the shore. One of 
his last actions was to write to the Secretary of 
War, informing him that he was in command of two 
thousand and seventy volunteers, the choicest cit- 
izens of Tennessee, who had " no constitutional 
scruples " about executing the will of their govern- 



136 General Andrew Jackson. 



ment, and would rejoice to place the American 
eagle " on the ramparts of Mobile, Pensacola and 
Fort St. Augustine," thus " effectually banishing 
from the Southern coast all British influence." 

It was in this spirit, and with his heart fired with 
the memory of British brutalities perpetrated in the 
Waxhaw settlement long years before, that Andrew 
Jackson started on his first warlike expedition. 

The flotilla descended the Cumberland to the 
Ohio ; and then went down the Ohio to the Missis- 
sippi, and thence continued on its way southward. 
For thirty-nine days they floated upon those wind- 
ing rivers, the whole heart of Western Tennessee 
going with them. On the morning of February 15, 
1 81 3, after traversing a distance of more than a 
thousand miles, the fleet came to at the levee of 
Natchez, where they were to meet the mounted men 
of the command. It was cheering to learn that Col- 
onel Coffee and his men were encamped near by. 

At Natchez, General Jackson received a letter 
from General Wilkinson, commanding at New 
Orleans, informing him that no enemy had yet 
appeared in the waters of the South. Wilkinson 
further said that he had received no orders respect- 
ing the Tennessee troops, and did not know the 
purpose of the Administration in sending them south- 
ward. At New Orleans he had neither barracks 
nor provisions for such an increase of force, and he 
therefore requested General Jackson to wait at 
Natchez for further orders. 

• Wilkinson seemed to be more anxious for himself 
than for his country. He gratuitously informed 
General Jackson that he should not think of yield- 



The War of 1S12, 137 

ing up his command, " until regularly relieved by 
superior authority." General Jackson assented to 
the suggestion that his troops should remain at 
Natchez, and added that his command should be 
kept in instant readiness to move. 

Accordingly, the troops disembarked at Natchez, 
and went into camp five miles from the town, where 
their officers kept them steadily drilling, and, in all 
other ways known to them, preparing for efficient 
service. At that season of the year the country 
about Natchez is one of the most pleasant in the 
Southwest, and as both officers and men felt the 
need of further drill and preparation, all were con- 
tent with the delay, which they hoped would be 
but brief, and prepare the way for a glorious cam- 
paign by and by. 

Two weeks passed pleasantly away, the troops 
daily improving in soldierly arts. But although the 
men were happy under the novel restraints and 
congenial labors of the camp, their general was 
becoming impatient. Natchez was then a six weeks* 
journey from Washington, even for a rapid mes- 
senger. Nevertheless General Jackson wrote to 
the Secretary of War on the ist of March to offer 
the services of his command in a new sphere. The 
defeats of the Northern troops weighed heavily upon 
all patriotic minds, and so he wrote : 

" Should the safety of the lower country admit it, and gov- 
ernment so order, I would with pleasure march to the lines of 
Canada and there offer my feeble aid to the army of our coun- 
try, and endeavor to wipe off the stain on our military character 
occasioned by the recent disasters." 

This idea so fired General Jackson's mind that, 



138 General Andrew Jackson, 

when another week had passed without orders and 
the hot Aveather Avas beginning to affect unfavorably 
the health of the troops and no indications of an 
enemy appeared in the South, he wrote again to the 
Secretary of War, assuring him that, on his return 
to Tennessee, he could raise three thousand men, 
who would engage for a year if he could tell them 
that their destination was Canada. 

Two weeks more passed away and the month of 
March was nearly at an end. The men had been 
waiting and drilling for six weeks, subsisting chiefly 
upon the provisions they had brought with them. 
The sick list lengthened every day, and the troops 
themselves now shared the impatience of their com- 
mander. 

At length, on a Sunday morning near the end of 
March, came an express bringing a ten-line letter 
from the Secretary of War, General John Arm- 
strong. 

It is doubtful if so much discouragement and dis- 
may were ever before or since compressed into ten 
lines of Avriting as the Secretary's letter contained. 
It was written six weeks before, and should have 
reached the troops before they had gone beyond 
the boundaries of Tennessee. It read thus : 



<( 



Sir : The causes of embodying and marching to New 
Orleans the corps under your command having ceased to exist* 
you will, on receipt of this letter, consider it as dismissed from 
public service, and take measures to have delivered over to 
Major-General Wilkinson all the articles of public property 
which may have been put into its possession, You will accept 
for yourself and the corps the thanks of the President of the 
United States. 



The War of j ^12. 139 



No language can adequately express General 
Jackson's amazement on reading this order to dis- 
miss two thousand men at a point five hundred 
miles from their homes — five hundred miles of 
nearly unbroken wilderness — without pay, and 
unprovided with any other means of performing 
so difficult a journey. On the instant he made up 
his mind that he would never dismiss his troops, 
most of whom were young men specially confided 
to his care by parents and friends, until he had con- 
ducted them to the public square of Nashville, 
where they had been enrolled into the service of 
their country. He sent for Colonel Benton, who 
still served as aid and secretary to the commander- 
in-chief, though himself at the head of one of the 
regiments. He showed Benton the order of the 
Secretary of War, and at the same moment 
announced his determination to disregard it. Col- 
onel Benton is our authority as to what ensued. 
General Jackson dashed upon paper the draught of 
a letter he wanted written to the Secretary of War, 
which he gave to Colonel Benton to copy and 
arrange. " It was very severe," Benton records ; 
" I tried hard to get some parts softer, but it was 
impossible." The general then summoned what he 
called a " council " of the field-officers. Their 
advice he did not ask, but merely informed them of 
his intention to march the troops back to Tennessee, 
and issued the requisite orders. Every officer was 
clear in the opinion of the absolute necessity of tak- 
ing the troops home as an organized body, since it 
was known that the savages had been greatly 



140 General Andrew Jackson. 

excited by the declaration of war, and the home- 
ward path lay through the Indians' country. 

There was not in the camp one dollar of public 
money. There were a hundred and fifty men on 
the sick-lists, fifty-six of whom were utterly helpless 
and would have to be carried in wagons. Upon 
inquiry, the commander found that the wagons 
would each cost ten dollars a day coming and going, 
and a considerable number of them would be 
required. The men had received no pay since 
leaving home. Their clothes, and particularly 
their shoes, were worn out. Even the officers had 
made no provision, either of money or goods, for 
such an emergency. In these circumstances, Gen- 
eral Jackson took the responsibility. To the team- 
sters, the farmers and the merchants of Natchez he 
pledged his whole estate for the goods they were 
to furnish. He personally indorsed every draft, 
although his property, at the time, was far from 
being sufficient to cover the expenditure. 

Five days were passed in preparation. On the 
last day, a dispatch arrived from the Government 
which ought to have accompanied the order to 
dismiss the troops. Owing to some error never 
explained, this second dispatch was started on its 
way several days after the first. The nevv^ dispatch 
directed General Jackson's troops to be paid off, 
and to be allowed pay and rations for the home- 
ward journey. About the same time came a letter 
from Genaral Wilkinson urging General Jackson to 
encourage his troops to enlist in the regular army. 
In this effort to obtain recruits for the regular army, 
occurring simultaneously with the dismissal of his 



A 



The War of 1812. 141 

own forces, General Jackson thought he had dis- 
covered a clew to the outrageous treatment of his 
troops. He distrusted and despised Wilkinson, and 
ascribed to him the desire to get a rival general 
shelved, and to have his own forces augmented by 
the gobbling up of that rival's brave soldiers. In 
his reply to Wilkinson, he said : 

*' These brave men, at the call of their country, 
voluntarily rallied round its insulted standard. They 
followed me to the field. I shall carefully march 
them back to their homes. It is for the agents of 
the Government to account to the State of Tennes- 
see and the whole world for their singular and unus- 
ual conduct to this detachment." This letter gives 
little indication of the wrath of General Jackson at 
Wilkinson's suggestion. But when a recruiting offi- 
cer was detected lurking about the camp, he was 
made to understand how the general felt, by an 
immediate notification that if he attempted to 
seduce one of the volunteers into enlisting in the 
regular army, he should be drummed out of the 
camp in the presence of the whole corps. 



142 Ge7ieral Andrezv Jackson. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE MARCH HOME — GENERAL JACKSON WINS HIS 
NICKNAME OF "OLD HICKORY." 

The homeward march began, with the fifty-six 
helpless men in eleven wagons. Those who could 
sit a horse were mounted on the horses of the 
officers. General Jackson had brought with him 
three of his own excellent horses, but gave them all 
up for the use of the sick men, himself performing 
the whole distance on foot. A march of five hun- 
dred miles, to save his sick comrades from suffering, 
was nothing to the man who, as a wounded, diseased 
and emaciated boy of fourteen, had made that terri- 
ble march of forty-miles from Camden to his home, 
while the small-pox fever was raging in his blood. 
General Jackson seldom, perhaps never, appeared to 
greater advantage than he did on this long and toil- 
some journey ; for he was called upon at every 
moment to exercise one of the strongest of his in- 
stincts — to care for those who were dependent upon 
him in critical emergencies — which never failed to 
call forth all the fortitude and tenderness of his 
nature. To see the commanding officer marching 
gayly along, chatting with officers and men, and 
encouraging the sick with his cheerful words, had a 
magical influence on the whole corps. The sick men 
improved every day, and even those who had seemed 
marked for a wayside grave reached their homes in 
good health. 



The March Home, 143 

'* Where am I ?' asked one young trooper who had 
been lifted insensible and apparently dying into a 
wagon, on coming to consciousness. ** On your way 
home, my brave boy," the general cheerfully and 
affectionately answered. The young soldier began 
to improve from that hour, and reached home in 
good health. 

It was on this journey from Natchez to Tennessee 
that General Jackson acquired his nickname of " Old 
Hickory." Mr. Parton says : " One of the officers 
who marched with him informed me that it arose 
out of the impression of toughness which the gen- 
eral's pedestrian alertness made upon the men. 
From *tough' he became 'as tough as hickory/ and 
long before they reached home he was familiarly 
called by the famous nickname, 'Old Hickory,* which 
he retains to the present hour." 

The day's march averaged eighteen miles, and 
they accomplished the distance in something less 
than a month. On the twenty-second of May, the 
troops were drawn up in the public square of Nash- 
ville, about to depart for their homes. A beautiful 
stand of colors was presented to them by the ladies 
of East Tennessee, made by their own skillful hands. 
On the white satin, eighteen stars were embroidered 
in orange, with two sprigs of laurel lying across 
them. Besides a glowing inscription to the vol- 
unteers, the ladies had wrought representations of 
war-like objects, such as arms, cannon-balls, drums, 
colors and axes, all so harmoniously arranged as to 
excite universal admiration. The general in com- 
mand was deeply touched, and v/rote to the ladies 
an eloquent letter of acknowledgment. 



144 General Andrew Jackson, 

At this time, Andrew Jackson's popularity was at 
the highest point it had yet reached. It was more 
than popularit}^ for his treatment of the soldiers had 
been truly paternal, and the affection which his sol- 
diers bore him excited a similar feeling in the homes 
of all the western counties. Only one thing marred 
for a time the happiness of his triumph. The numer- 
ous drafts that he had given for transportation 
and supplies were returned protested, the Govern- 
ment claiming that they were given without 
authority of law. It happened, however, that Col- 
onel Benton was going to Washington on business 
of his own. He explained the whole transaction to 
the Secretary of War, and told him that as those 
volunteers represented every substantial family in 
Tennessee, and the whole State stood by the com 
manding general, Tennessee would be lost to the 
Administration if he were left responsible for the 
drafts. This touched the Government in a vulnera- 
ble and sensitive spot. The Administration could 
not afford to lose the support of Tennessee, and so 
Colonel Benton's argument prevailed. The Gov- 
ernment assumed the expenses, and thus saved Gen- 
eral Jackson from ruin. 

Soon after Colonel Benton had done this great 
service for his esteemed commander, General Jack- 
son, impelled by what to him was a stern sense of 
duty, acted as the second of a dear young friend in 
a duel with Jesse Benton, Colonel Benton's brother. 
Jesse Benton naturally saw only his own side of the 
question. He gave his brother an exaggerated 
account of the affair, in which the conduct of Gen- 
eral Jackson was described in a way which made 



The March Home, 14^ 



Colonel Benton furious. Misunderstanding after 
misunderstanding followed, and provocation after 
provocation was given, until the feud culminated in 
a street fight between General Jackson and his 
friends and the Bentons and their friends. Gen- 
eral Jackson was terribly wounded by Jesse Benton, 
who fired a huge pistol, loaded like a blunderbuss, 
at him as he was facing Colonel Benton. A large 
slug shattered General Jackson's left shoulder, a ball 
entered the upper part of his left arm and sunk to 
the bone, while another ball splintered a board 
partition at his side. He fell across the entry of a 
tavern, where he lay bleeding and nearly insen- 
sible until the fighting ceased. As soon as possible 
he was carried to a room in the Nashville Inn, and 
all the doctors in the town were gathered around 
him. They succeeded, when life was nearly extinct, 
in staunching the ilow of blood. The arm was so 
badly injured that all the physicians present but 
one recommended immediate amputation. 

'' ril keep my arm," said Jackson. 

No attempt was made to extract the ball from the 
arm, and the horrid wounds in the shoulder were 
dressed in the simple manner of the Western country, 
with applications of slippery-elm and other native 
products. Mrs. Jackson used to tell her friends 
that, before the bleedmg could be stopped, two 
mattresses were soaked through. General Jackson 
lay for nearly three weeks, before he could sit up in 
a chair while the bed was made. 

Soon after the occurrence of this terrible affray, 
Colonel Benton left Nashville and went to Franklin 
in Tennessee. A short time afterward, he was 



146 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackson, 



appointed lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, in 
which he served to the end of the war. He then 
removed to Missouri, which, as is well known, he 
represented for thirty years in the Senate of the 
United States. In the first volume of his '' Thirty 
Years in the United States Senate," at page 737, 
Colonel Benton makes a final allusion to his unfor- 
tunate collision with General Jackson, in these touch- 
ing words : 

"■ His [Jackson's] temper was placable, as well as 
irascible, and his reconciliations were cordial and 
sincere. Of that, my own case was a signal instance. 
After a deadly feud, I became his confidential 
adviser; was offered the highest marks of his 
favor, and received from his dying bed a message of 
friendship, dictated when life was departing, and 
when he would have to pause for breath." 

" To err is human ; to forgive, divine." 



Massacre at Foi^t Minis, i^y 



CHAPTER XV. 

MASSACRE AT FORT MIMS — THE CREEK WAR — GEN- 
ERAL JACKSON TAKES COMMAND. 

For many days after the affray with the Bentons, 
General Jackson lay in his room at the Nashville 
Inn seemingly at the point of death. At the end of 
the second week he could scarcely lift his head from 
the pillow, and the wounds in his shoulder were only 
beginning to heal. No one supposed that he could 
serve again in the field during the war. Indeed, it 
was not thought there would be any particular 
occasion for his services in that part of the country 
but that proved to be a great mistake. 

Through the eloquence and artifice of Tecumseh, 
the most warlike of the tribes which then occupied 
Florida, Georgia and Alabama, had ranged them- 
selves on the side of the British, who directed their 
movements from Pensacola, with the assistance and 
cordial sympathy of the Spanish governor of 
Florida. Let these facts be remembered ; and let it 
not be forgotten that the horrible massacre at Fort 
Mims, which began the Creek War, was the direct 
result of British and Spanish efforts to strike terror 
to the hearts of American settlers by means of 
Indian atrocities. 

Fort Mims, on Lake Tensaw, in Southern Ala. 
bama, was merely a log stockade, an acre or two in 
extent, which Samuel Mims, an old resident of the 
Indian country, had hastily erected on the first vague 



148 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackso7i., 

alarm of an Indian rising, i^ccording to frontier 
custom, in time of danger, the inhabitants of the 
country far and near poured into the stockade to the 
number of more than five hundred, of whom one 
hundred were women and children. Each famil}^ or 
group of families, built its log-hut within the inclo- 
sure, and all awaited the onset of the Indians. As 
time passed and no Indians appeared, the people, as 
usual in such cases, grew careless and incredulous of 
danger. Major Beasley, the commander of the gar- 
rison, did not believe the Indians had any intention 
of attacking the fort, and all the officers shared his 
incredulity. Discipline was relaxed; precautions 
against surprise were disregarded ; the inmates of 
the stockade gave themselves up to amusement and 
jollity. 

On August 29 (18 1 3), two negro slaves, who had 
been stationed to watch cattle a few miles distant, 
rushed, breathless, into the fort and said they had 
seen a band of painted Indians lurking in the woods. 
A party was sent out to reconnoiter, but found no 
trace of Indians. The negroes were sentenced to 
be whipped for giving a false alarm, and one of 
them was punished. The owner of the other 
believed his slave had told the truth and objected 
to his being whipped ; whereupon the commandant 
ordered him and his family to leave the fort, which 
they fortunately did. This fatuous hallucination 
was on the eve of being dispelled. On the very 
next morning (August 30), a thousand Creek war- 
riors, under the command of their most renowned 
chief, the half-breed Weathersford, lay in ambush 
within striking distance of Fort Mims, awaiting 



Massacre at Fort Minis. 149 



their chieftain's signal to attack. Precisely at noon, 
when the drums of the garrison beat for dinner, the 
gates being wide open, and all the men unarmed 
strolling to their several quarters for the mid-day 
meal, Weathersford gave the signal, and the savages 
rose from their ambush and rushed upon the inclo- 
sure. Then arose the terrible cry, so often heard in 
those days on the exposed frontiers, " Indians /" 
" Lidians /" The thousand Creeks came on like a 
tempest of destruction. Within the stockade there 
was a rush of women and children to the log-huts 
and of men to the gates and the port-holes. Major 
Beasley, brave soldier that he was, was one of the 
first to reach the main gate, but he was too late to 
close it. The savages dashed forward, struck down 
the commander, and ran over his body into the fort. 
The situation was appalling ; but the garrison was 
composed of brave men, and they behaved as brave 
men should in circumstances so terrible. They made 
a heroic defense of more than five hours, and would 
have beaten off the foe, if the Indians had not suc- 
ceeded in setting fire to the stockade and its cluster 
of cabins. In a few minutes after the conflagration 
burst out, further defense was impossible, and then 
a hideous massacre began, which was too horrible 
for detailed description. 

When the sun set on that August evening, of the 
five hundred and fifty-three persons who were living 
in the stockade in the morning, all so incredulous of 
danger from their savage foes, four hundred lay 
dead upon the ground, scalped and mangled. Not 
one white woman nor one white; child escaped. 
Weathersford tried to save the women and children. 



150 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackson, 

but his warriors encircled him with uplifted toma- 
hawks and he was forced to let them glut their ven- 
geance to the full. The few white men who by des- 
perate powers broke away, wandered for days in the 
wilderness and reached places of refuge almost 
starved. One faithful negro woman, who had 
received a bullet in her breast, seized a canoe on 
Lake Tensaw, in which she paddled fifteen miles, 
and bore the first news of the massacre to Governor 
Claiborne of Louisiana. 

In this terrible way began the Creek War of 1813. 
The massacre occurred at the time when it could do 
the greatest amount of harm, when the magnificent 
crops of that fertile land were nearly ready for the 
harvest. Every plantation was abandoned in the 
belt of country between Tennessee and the Gulf of 
Mexico, and all the white inhabitants sought safety 
in forts and stockades. 

Fort Mims was about four hundred miles distant 
from Nashville, and the dreadful tidings reached 
the village in eighteen days. There could be no 
question in Nashville as to what was to be done. 
Every out-lying settlement in Tennessee was in 
peril, and Nashville was never known to lose its 
head in such a crisis. A public meeting was imme- 
diately called. The man who should have taken the 
lead in that meeting Avas lying half dead in his 
room, within hearing of the speakers' voices. No 
one supposed it would be possible for him to ent:r 
the field against the Indians, and the universal con- 
viction of his helplessness produced a sad and 
depressing effect. A committee was appointed, of 
which Colonel Coffee w^as a member, to confer with 



Massacre at Fort Minis . 151 

Governor Blount and General Jackson ; after which 
the meeting adjourned to reassemble on the follow- 
ing day, which was Sunday. 

The committee, to the great surprise and the still 
greater joy of its members, found that General 
Jackson by no means regarded himself as a non- 
combatant. Shot almost to death as he had been, 
with his wounds still festering, and so weak he 
could hardly raise his hand to his head or his head 
' from his pillow, that unparalleled character of his 
asserted itself — that character which Emerson 
defines as " tJie impossibility of beiiig displaced or over- 
sety The terrible news from Alabama did not dis- 
may him. It gave him new life ; it brought healing 
to his wounds; it augmented his strength ; and he 
took it entirely as a matter of course that he should 
have command of the troops and lead them against 
the savage enemy who had disturbed or menaced the 
peace of Tennessee for twenty years. 
» The committee reported on Sunday morning that 
the governor was in favor of calling out the entire 
strength of the State against the Creeks. The 
committee regretted what they called " the present 
temporary indisposition of our brave and patriotic 
General Jackson ; " but. added that there was no 
doubt of his being able to command the freemen of 
Tennessee by the time they could assemble at the 
rendezvous. 

The Legislature empowered the governor to put 
four thousand men into the field, and besides guaran- 
teeing their pay and subsistence, voted three 
hundred thousand dollars for the first expenses. 
Fayetteville, eighty miles south of Nashville, was 



152 General Andrew Jackson, 

appointed as the place of rendezvous, and October 
4th as the day. The fourth of October would be 
exactly a month from the day when General Jackson 
received his wounds. Prostrate as he was, he was 
superior, in such an emergency, to any dozen other 
men in the State. He at once assumed control of 
the campaign, and, as usual with him, he began by 
issuing an address to the volunteers. 

" 1 regret," said he, '' that indisposition, which 
from present appearances is not likely to continue 
long, may prevent me from leading the van ; but I 
indulge the grateful hope of sharing with you the 
dangers and glory of prostrating those hell-hounds 
who are capable of such barbarities." 

He did not precisely lead the van. Nine days 
after the arrival of the news of the massacre, he 
dispatched Colonel Coffee, with five hundred 
mounted men, to Huntsville, in Alabama, to give 
assurance to the frontier of coming protection. 
Every village through which Colonel Coffee passed 
increased his force, and on the fourth of October 
he crossed the Alabama line with thirteen hundred 
mounted men, every man riding his own horse and 
carrying his own weapons. And still the men kept 
coming in. ** Volunteers," as he wrote back to his 
commanding officer, '* are flocking in every hour. " 

The day soon came when the commanding general 
himself had to move toward the rendezvous. He 
could not yet mount a horse without powerful 
assistance. His left arm was closely bound and in a 
sling. He was unable, therefore, to put it in a coat- 
sleeve, and during the whole period of his military 
service, he could not carry an epaulet on his left 



Massacre at Fort Minis. 153 



shoulder. In point of flesh, he was the merest 
shadow of a man. His stomach would retain so 
little food that he was in danger of dying- from 
inanition. His wounds were so sensitive that the 
least wrench or jar afiflicted him with agony. But 
his dauntless spirit was unimpaired. He was sus- 
tained during the agonizing journey of nearly 
ninety miles by that invincible determination and 
fortitude of his, in which he seems to have excelled 
all men known to history. Several times during 
his first two days' ride, members of his staff had to 
take him aside and sponge him from head to foot 
with whiskey. 

Weak and wounded as he was, he was ahead of 
most of his troops, for he reached Fayetteville on 
the seventh of October, to discover that less than 
half of the men ordered to gather there had arrived. 
He received, however, favorable news from Colonel 
Coffee, who was thirty miles nearer the seat of war. 

It had been expected that the Indians, aided by 
the British, would capture Mobile ; but the Spanish 
governor of Florida, who claimed that Mobile 
belonged to Spain, and who expected that it would 
be restored to that power, did not wish to have the 
place destroyed. For this reason Mobile was spared, 
and the Indians were turned northward for the 
purpose of devastating the country clear to the 
Ohio. Hence, Colonel Coffee (who only knew what 
was going on, without having the slightest idea of 
the cause) was able to inform his commander that 
the Indians, instead of attacking Mobile, as was ex- 
pected, were making their way northward toward 
the settlements of Tennessee. This was delightful 



154 General Andrew Jackson, 

news to the sick and grim Old Hickory. He replied 
that he was glad to learn that the Creeks were go- 
ing to save him the pain of traveling. " I must not 
be outdone in politeness, " he added, " and will, 
therefore, endeavor to meet them on the middle 
ground. " 

A week was passed at Fayetteville completing the 
preparations for an advance, the general daily gain- 
ing a little in health and strength. Then, at one 
o'clock, on the eleventh of October, a dispatch was 
received from Colonel Coffee, who was still posted 
at Huntsville, saying that the Indians were approach- 
ing him. The order was given instantly to prepare 
to march. Before three o'clock the troops started, 
and reached Huntsville at eight o'clock the same 
evening — six miles an hour for five hours, incredible 
as it may seem. But this is a positive statement of a 
dispatch written in General Jackson's name ; and it 
must be remembered that the troops were frontiers- 
men and the very flower of the population. The 
alarm proved to be a false one, but the march united 
the army thirty-two miles nearer the scene of 
action. 

And now began the serious difficulty of this eight 
months' struggle in the wilderness. When General 
Jackson joined his forces to those of Colonel Coffee, 
and pitched his camp on a bluff of the Tennessee 
river, he was a hundred and fifty miles from any 
adequate supply of provisions. He had with him 
twenty-five hundred men and thirteen hundred 
horses, a force that requires for a week's subsistence 
two hundred barrels of flour, twenty tons of meat, 
sixty tons of provender and many wagon-loads of 



Massacre at Fort Mints, 155 



miscellaneous stores. Already Colonel Coffee, in 
his eight days' advance movement, had swept the 
surrounding- country of the supplies it could furnish. 
On this bend of the Tennessee, the government 
contractor had engaged to deliver a thousand bar- 
rels of flour, a week before, with a proportionate 
supply of meat, and he had done all that in him lay 
to keep his word. But his flour and his meat were 
on a bend of the Tennessee, three hundred miles 
above, where the flat-boats, in the low tide of water 
then prevailing, would not float. 

It was in meeting such difficulties as these, even 
more than in actual conflict, where he was unmatch- 
able, that Andrew Jackson showed his extra- 
ordinary powers — powers never surpassed and only 
equaled by those of Csesar. With calmness and rapid- 
ity he set to work to procure the indispensable provis- 
ions. He sent his trusty quartermaster. Major W. 
B. Lewis, to Nashville, to stay there and take charge 
of the vital business of supplying his army. He 
sent Colonel Coffee and seven hundred mounted 
men on a foraging expedition, while he kept the 
infantry drilling from morning to night. He wrote 
Burning letters to men in East Tennessee, to the 
Governor of Tennessee, to the Governor of Georgia, 
to all the Indian agents among the friendly tribes, 
to friendly Indian chiefs, to the general in com- 
mand at New Orleans, to a great number of friends 
in various parts of his own State, saying to all of them 
in substance, that there was no obstacle in the way 
of his annihilating the Creek power, except the lack 
of a steady supply of provisions for about six weeks, 



156 General Andrew Jackson, 

He kept his secretary, Major John Reid, writing 
and copying the whole week. 

"■ There is an enemy," the general wrote, by his 
secretary's hand, " whom I dread much more than 
I do the hostile Creeks — I mean the meagre monster 
Famine, I shall leave this encampment in the morn- 
ing direct for the Ten Islands, and yet 1 have not 
on hand two days' supply of bread-stuffs." 

At the last moment his meagre store was increased, 
by Colonel Coffee's raid, to a sufficiency for about 
four days. He marched, therefore, at the time 
appointed, having first delivered to the troops an 
address as well calculated to inspire prudence as 
courage. He called to their minds the Indian 
mode of fighting, and urged them not to be deceived 
by their arts, nor alarmed by their ill-sustained 
attacks. He urged them to be vigilant, and yet not 
to be terrified by shadows. '* Our soldiers," he said, 
" will lie with their arms in their hands, and the 
moment an alarm is given they will move to their 
respective positions, without noise and without 
confusion." The camp was then broken up, and he 
directed his course toward the heart of the enemy's 
country, relying upon raids and victory, and upon 
them alone, for food enough to keep his men alive. 

He was running a great risk, which he felt more 
acutely than any man of his command. Rash and 
impetuous as he sometimes seemed, he was in reality 
a very prudent person. It was instinctive with him 
to be sure of his ground before taking an irretriev- 
able step. On this occasion he was not sure of his 
ground, and he made a choice of evils. He instinc- 
tively knew, as has already been said, what philoso- 



i 



Massacre at Fort Mims, 157 



phers have stated with much verbosity, that the 
highest discretion does not consist so much in evad- 
ing danger as in meeting it with skill and resolution. 
In the present terrible exigency he thought that a 
bold advance was better than a retreat, which mio-ht 
have brought a fearful disaster upon the southern 
counties of Tennessee. In two days, his corn being 
nearly all gone, he halted for a day while a raid of 
two hundred men went in quest of a supply, and 
brought in a considerable amount, besides twenty- 
nine Indian prisoners, the late owners of the corn. 

Cheered by this success, he kept on his way for a 
week, and reached the river Coosa. Here certain 
news reached him of the presence of a large Indian 
force at Tallushatches, thirteen miles distant. At 
daybreak the next morning, with a thousand 
mounted men and some friendly Indians, Colonel 
Coffee was encircling that Indian camp and prepar- 
ing for an assault upon it, the horses having been 
left a safe distance in the rear. The Creeks were 
completely surprised, but they rallied and fought as 
long as one Indian remained alive ; or, to use the 
language of Colonel Coffee, " they fought as long as 
one existed. * * * Not one of the warriors 
escaped to carry the news — a circumstance unknown 
heretofore." 

Two hundred Indians were killed, and eighty-four 
women and children taken prisoners. Five white 
men were killed, and forty-one wounded, none 
mortally. The Indian captives were taken to the 
settlements and treated kindly ; General Jackson 
himself adopting one of the boys, whom he reared 



158 General Andrew Jackson, 

in his family and apprenticed to the trade of harness 
maker. 

If Indians had been all that General Jackson had 
had to contend with, he would speedily have van- 
quished them, but that foe that was more to be 
dreaded than savages, was close upon him. 






Jackson s Fight Against Famine, 159 



CHAPTER XVI. 

GENERAL JACKSON'S DESPERATE FIGHT AGAINST 

. FAMINE — THE INDIANS CRUSHED — JACKSON 

MADE A MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE 

REGULAR ARMY. 

Four days after Colonel Coffee's battle at Tallus- 
hatches, during which time the troops had been 
erecting a fortification or depot which was named 
Fort Strother, it was General Jackson's turn to 
encounter the Indians. News came that a camp of 
a hundred and fifty friendly Creeks, thirty miles 
down the Coosa, at a place called Talladega, had 
been suddenly surrounded by a thousand hostile 
Indians, cut off from their supply of water, and so 
closely hemmed in that escape was impossible. One 
wily Indian chief, dressed in the skin of a large hog, 
made his way through the hostile lines, and came 
into camp, twenty-four hours later, breathless and 
exhausted, to tell his story to General Jackson. It 
was a crucial moment for the general, for his army 
was close to starvation, and he was again obliged to 
choose one of two perilous and possibly fatal risks. 
Again his courage and his instinctive genius for 
the performance of heroic and desperate deeds were 
equal to the terrible emergency, and again he 
decided to advance. 

Without any certainty of being able to subsist his 
troops, and leaving his sick behind him with four 
days' supply of food, he hastened forward with all 



i6o General Andrew Jackson, 



his available force, and promptly arrived where his 
men could hear the exultant Creeks howling around 
their expected prey. Adopting the familiar Indian 
tactics of surrounding the enemy, the Tennesseeans 
closed upon them. After a short but most decisive 
battle, the Indians fled, leaving two hundred of the 
flower of their nation dead upon the field. Colonel 
Coffee and his horsemen pursued them four miles, 
" killing and wounding as they ran " two hundred 
and ninety-nine in all. " Very few got clear without 
a wound," adds Coffee. Jackson lost fifteen men 
killed, and eighty-six wounded, most of them slightly 
with arrows. 

The joy of the rescued Creeks, who had been 
expecting an assault that very day, was indescribable, 
for they knew nothing of Jackson's approach until 
the battle began. As soon as they had satisfied 
their raging thirst, they gathered round the com- 
manding general, testifying their gratitude by 
expressive gestures and joyful cries. The little 
corn which they had left, the general bought and 
distributed among his hungry men and hungrier 
horses, that had begun this march of thirty-two 
miles with only one day's supply of food. 

There was no time to be lost, if they meant to 
escape starvation. The dead being decently buried 
and the wounded placed in litters, the army marched 
back to Fort Strother, Avhere the sick had been left. 
General Jackson had fully expected, and with rea- 
son, that an abundant supply of food would reach 
the fort in his absence. Not an ounce had arrived, 
and the little which he had left behind him was 
nearly all consumed, even his own private stores, 



Jacksojis FigJa Against Famine. i6i 



which he had told the surgeons to draw upon if 
necessary for the comfort of the sick and wounded 
men. All had been consumed except a few pounds 
of biscuits, which he immediately caused to be dis- 
tributed to the most needy applicants. Major Reid 
reports that the general tried to make a jest of his 
acute disappointment. He and his staff went to the 
slaughtering-place and selected from the refuse a 
quantity of tripe for their supper. A few starving 
cattle were still left, upon which the men subsisted 
for a few days, the general and his staff eating noth- 
ing but tripe without seasoning of any kind. In 
these distressing circumstances, General Jackson 
did not omit to send a polite message to the ladies 
of East Tennessee, that their colors had been borne 
in the thickest of the fight, tied around the person 
of Captain Deaderich. 

" In return," he wrote, "■ I send you a stand of 
colors (although not of such elegant stuff or mag- 
nificent needlework) taken by one of the volunteers, 
which I beg you to present to them as the only 
mark ot gratitude the volunteers have it in their 
power to make. With his own hand he slayed the 
bearer." 

And now began General Jackson's long contest 
with Famine — an enemy, as he said, far more 
formidable than the Creeks. He struggled with it 
for ten terrible weeks, during which he could make 
no effective movement against the foe, whom he 
could have totally destroyed in ten days if he had 
had an adequate supply of provisions. Sometimes 
his army was reduced to extreme destitution, when 
a trifling supply would alleviate the situation for a 



1 62 General Aridrew Jackson, 

few days. It cannot be justly said that the scarcity 
was due to the fault of any man, but wholly to 
natural obstacles — the wilderness, the distance and 
the wet season. More than once there was a formid- 
able mutiny of the idle troops, which the general 
met with a happy blending of persuasion, tact and 
firmness. 

His force consisted partly of militia and partly of 
volunteers, between whom there was some degree 
of rivalry and jealousy. The militia having resolved 
to start for home at a certain set time, General 
Jackson, learning their intention, stationed the vol- 
unteers, early on the morning the militia were to 
start, across the road along w^hich they would have 
to march, and took his place at the head of the 
force. The militia, finding the lion-like general, 
backed by the volunteers, barring their way, quietly 
retired to their quarters. Shortly afterward, the 
volunteers resolved to abandon the camp and go 
home. Then the general called on the militia to 
help him block the game of the volunteers, which 
they did with a relish. Finally both militia and 
volunteers became incurably infected with the 
spirit of discontent and mutiny, and terrible scenes 
occurred. 

On one occasion, when a large body of troops had 
got ready to set out on their homeward march. Gen- 
eral Jackson seized a musket, and placing himself in 
their front, swore " by the Eternal" that the first 
man who took a step in advance should die. It is 
said that his countenance, on such an occasion, 
appalled the most courageous man. There was in 
it the majesty of a god, the ferocity of a tiger, the 



Jacksoiis FigJit Against Famine. 163 

determination of fixed fate. Every lineament was 
stamped with invincible power, and his eyes blazed 
with a fire that no other eyes could look upon with- 
out blenching. The mutinous soldiers, confronted 
by such a terrible apparition, hesitated, wavered, 
retired. It was afterward discovered that the 
musket which the general had seized for the occa- 
sion was so damaged it could not be fired. But it 
was the man, not the musket, that the mutineers 
feared. 

Force was not the only means used by General 
Jackson to keep the troops in the field. He 
addressed to them the most passionate entreaties. 
"Wagons are on the way," he once said to them; 
" a large number of beeves are in the neighborhood 
and detachments are out to bring them in. If 
supplies do not arrive in two days, we will all march 
back together." 

If he had said three days he might have kept the 
troops, but unfortunately he had miscalculated by 
four-and-twenty hours. At the end of the second 
day, when no provisions had arrived, he was obliged 
to fulfill his promise. " If only two men will 
remain with me," he passionately declared, " I will 
never abandon the post." One hundred and nine 
men were willing to remain. He left them in charge 
of Fort Strother, and himself marched northward 
with the rest of the troops, on the explicit under- 
standing that, as soon as they had satisfied their 
hunger and procured supplies, they would return 
to Fort Strother and march upon the foe. They 
met the provision train the next day and satisfied 
their hunger; but the mania to return home was 



1 64 



General Andrew Jackson. 



^ 



K 






\ 



not satisfied, nor could it be overcome. Terrible 
scenes took place between the general and the 
troops, who appeared to be held to their duty only 
bv the force of his invincible will and the irresistible 
domination of his courage and character. The 
soldiers marched southward, but with discontented 
minds, and there was still a long contest before Gen- 
eral Jackson deemed it best to exchange these dis- 
satisfied troops for new regiments from Tennessee. 
And now still greater discouragements arose. 
The men who returned home, in order to justify 
their abandonment of their general, gave such dole- 
ful accounts of the situation, and such harrowing 
descriptions of the hardships of the service, as 
appalled their fellow-citizens and effectually checked 
volunteering. Even Governor Blount became dis- 
couraged, and wrote to General Jackson, advising 
him to give up the enterprise and return home. 

And so it had come to this : the godlike courage 
and fortitude of one man alone stood between the 
Indian hordes of the South and the defenseless 
settlements to the north of them. And that man 
was physically a wreck. His wounds had not yet 
healed. He could not get his left arm into his coat- 
sleeve. For weeks he had not had sufficient food, 
and the little he had had was unwholesome. He was 
tortured by acute dyspepsia. He was afflicted with 
a chronic diarrhoea, accompanied by pains so acute 
that the only way he could obtain relief was to have 
a sapling partially cut and bent down so he could 
lean over it, with his abdomen pressing the wood 
and the ends of his fingers resting upon the ground. 
So emaciated and feeble was he, it is a wonder that 



Jackson s Fight Against Famine. 165 

he was able to sit upon his horse or even to stand 
upon his feet. But his indomitable soul triumphed 
over his wasted body. The fire of his eve was not 
dimmed, the majesty of his demeanor was not 
impaired. His fortitude was as enduring as his 
courage was unconquerable. That character of his 
— *' the impossibility of being displaced or overset" 
— now shone forth in all its incomparable and 
quenchless luster. 

General Jackson was not the only brave man in 
the army. It is not probable that there was a 
coward in the entire force. It was not courage but 
fortitude that was lacking. Fortitude is persistent 
courage — courage which is so sustained bv con. 
science and a lofty sense of duty that it never gives 
up. The troops who abandoned the enterprise 
were brave men. If thev could have srot within 
reach of their foes, there would have been no lack 
of courage among them. Every man of them would 
have fought like a hero. But fortitude they did not 
possess in sufficient measure to stand the strain, and 
so the greater part of them abandoned their gen- 
eral, who at last permitted them to return to their 
homes. But he stayed on. Under the terrible, the 
seemingly hopeless circumstances in which he was 
placed, any other man would have hailed the advice 
of Governor Blount as a godsend, and under its 
cover would have gladly gone home. But General 
Jackson met it characteristicallv, bv writino- the 
governor such an eloquent, circumstantial, logical 
and convincing reply that Governor Blount's 
enthusiasm was reawakened, the patriotism of the 
people was stirred to its depths, their courage was 



1 66 Gene7^al Andrew Jackson. 

reanimated, volunteers came forward, and when the 
spring- opened amazing exertions were put forth to 
collect and transport the requisite provisions. It 
took many weeks for these movements to come to 
such a head as to relieve General Jackson. Mean- 
while, in January, 1814, although he had but nine 
hundred undisciplined and disaffected troops, he 
planned a raid upon the Indians which he executed 
with characteristic daring and skill. On December 
22nd and 24th he fought the battles of Emuckfau 
and Enotachopco, inflicting heavy loss on the sav. 
ages. At the beginning of the battle of Enotachopco 
a panic occurred among the raw troops, which 
threatened the destruction of the army. In this 
terrible emergency General Jackson exhibited those 
heroic qualities for which he was so renowned. 
Major Eaton, in describing the general's conduct on 
that occasion, says :* '' But for him everything 
must have gone to ruin. On him all hopes were 
rested. In that moment of confusion he was the 
rallying point even for the spirits of the brave. 
Firm and energetic, and at the same time perfectly 
self-possessed, his example and his authority alike 
contributed to arrest the flying and give confidence 
to those who maintained their ground. Cowards 
forgot their panic, and fronted danger, when they 
heard his voice and beheld his manner; and the 
brave would have formed round his body a ram- 
part with their own. In the midst of showers of 
balls, of which he seemed unmindful, he was seen 
performing the duties of the subordinate officers, 

* Parton I, 495. 



Jackso7is Fight Against Famine. 167 

rallying the alarmed, halting them in their flight, 
forming his columns, and inspiriting them by his 
example." 

This successful raid over, the troops whose time 
was about to expire were sent home, and General 
Jackson waited weary weeks for reinforcements 
and provisions. At last, fresh troops began to 
arrive, and among them, on the sixth of February, 
came the Thirty-ninth regiment of United States 
soldiers, six hundred strong, under command of 
Colonel Williams. This was an important acquis- 
ition. By the end of February, the general had 
iive thousand troops, within two days' march of 
Fort Strother, waiting till twenty days* rations could 
be accumulated, to march on the foe and strike a 
finishing blow. Prodigious exertions were made to 
hasten the transport of provisions. Over the miry 
forest roads of March, four barrels of flour made a 
heavy load for four horses. Although the general 
had five hundred men at work improving the last 
thirty miles of the road to Fort Strother, it required 
a whole week for a wagon train to perform one 
journey of sixty-four miles ; and not one wagon 
brought more than sixteen hundred pounds of food. 
All the sick and disabled men were sent home, and 
the teamsters were forbidden to convey anything 
not strictly indispensable; not even whiskey, which 
was then generally considered indispensable to men 
in the field. There was such a weeding out of non- 
combatants that there was only one man left in 
camp who could beat the ordinary calls on the 
drum, and this one drummer performed the whole 
duty. 



1 68 General Afidreio Jackson. 



The most inflexible discipline was enforced. On 
March 14, 1814, John Wood was shot for insubordin- 
ation and assault upon an officer. This severity had 
a happy effect on the army, but years afterwards, dur- 
ing his presidential campaigns, Jackson was fiercely 
assailed for it. But as Professor Sumner* says, 
" party newspapers during a presidential campaign 
are not a fair court of appeal to review the acts 
which a military commander in the field may think 
necessary to maintain discipline. Jackson showed in 
this case that he was not afraid to do his duty, and 
that he would not sacrifice the public service to 
curry popularity." 

At length, about the middle of March, 18 14, after 
six weeks of the most intense exertion, the supplies 
were gathered at Fort Strother, and an advance 
movement became possible. 

Fifty-five miles to the southward, the Creeks had 
assembled nearly the whole of the effective warriors 
of their tribe, with their women and children. It 
was on a bend of the Tallapoosa, called Tohopeka, 
** The Horse-shoe," from its shape. It contained 
about a hundred acres of land, mostly covered with 
the primeval woods. Across the neck of this bend 
the Indians had built a log breast-work of great 
strength, pierced with two rows of port-holes. The 
construction of this breast-work showed that the 
savages had had the aid of soldiers accustomed to 
build such fortifications. At the bottom of the 
peninsula, near the river, were their wigwams, and 
the shore was fringed with a great number of canoes- 

* Sumner's life of Jackson, 35. 



i 



Battle of the Horse Shoe. 169 



The Indians had had plenty of time to complete this 
fortification, and with the aid of the British they 
had made it strong. It was defended by something 
less than a thousand warriors, and in the wigwam 
village there were about three hundred women and 
children. 

It required eleven days of intense exertion for 
Jackson's army of two thousand men to march the 
fifty-five miles of pathless wilderness which lay 
between Fort Strother and the Horse-shoe Bend. 
But when he had reached the place, he perceived at 
the first glance that the Indians had merely, as he said 
in one of his letters, "• penned themselves in for des- 
truction." He first sent General Coffee to cross the 
river two miles away and take a position opposite 
the line of canoes, to prevent the escape of the 
Indians. This, Coffee promptly did, and sent his 
swimmers over, who cut the canoes loose and 
brought them across the river. Colonel Coffee used 
them to send over a number of troops to attack the 
savages in the rear. Thus the ferocious Creeks 
were assailed in front by General Jackson and behind 
by Coffee, and the men seconded their efforts with 
the most splendid gallantry. 

After the first heroic assault the battle resolved 
itself into a long, slow massacre, which lasted from 
two o'clock in the afternoon until dark. As in the 
former battles so in this, not one Indian asked for 
quarter, nor would accept his life, because they had 
been assured by their prophets that if spared they 
would be subjected to a death of torment. Upon 
counting the dead, five hundred and fifty-seven 
bodies of the red men were found within the penin- 



lyo General Andrezv Jackson. 



sula , two hundred more, it was thought, lay at the 
bottom of the river, and there were many in the 
woods who had perished of their wounds while 
attempting to escape. Jackson's loss was fifty-five 
killed and one hundred and forty-six wounded, of 
whom more than half were friendly Indians. Ensign 
Houston, afterwards senator from Texas, lay within 
the bend, after the battle, with two balls in his 
shoulder and fearful wounds in his thigh. 

In this battle the power of the Creeks was broken 
forever. The leading chiefs all surrendered. 
Weathersford himself, mounted on his matchless 
gray horse, known far and near for its speed and 
endurance, rode into General Jackson's camp and 
gave himself up. He was tall, straight, fearless and 
majestic, and was the greatest Indian warrior of his 
time, as well as the most chivalric and romantic. In 
truth, he was more like a knight of olden time than 
a savage of his period. He commanded at the cap- 
ture of Fort Mims, and although he sought, as has 
been stated, to save the white women and children 
from destruction, he got no credit for his humanity 
and was held responsible for the whole horrible 
massacre. Owing to the rancorous hatred of him 
by the entire white population of the South, it was a 
hundred chances to one that if he came into their 
power he would be slain on sight. Yet, for the sake 
of the suffering women and children of his tribe, 
he boldly rode to the door of General Jackson's 
tent and surrendered himself unconditionally. He 
was immediately surrounded by officers and 
soldiers who cried: ''Kill him! Kill him!" 
General Jackson commanded silence, and, in his 



Jackson Appointed Major-General. 17.1 

emphatic way, said: "Any man who would kill as 
brave a man as this would rob the dead !" He then 
invited the chief into his tent, and took him under 
his protection. 

Weathersford induced the remnant of the Creeks 
to accept the terms of peace which General Jackson 
proffered, although one of the conditions was that 
half their lands should be ceded to the government 
of the United States. 

The victorious general and his troops enjoyed a 
triumphal reception at Nashville, in which the entire 
population took part; and soon after, on May 31, 
1814, The National hitelligencer, oiW?is\\\ngton, con- 
iMned the following announcement : 

Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, is appointed Major- 
General in the Army of the United States, vice 
William Henry Harrison, resigned. " 

Words cannot express the gratification which 
this appointment gave to General Jackson. 



1/2 



GejLcral A?id7'cic Jackson, 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE NEW ORLEANS CAMPAIGN — FORMIDABLENESS OF 
THE BRITISH EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW 
ORLEANS — THE DEFENSELESS CON- 
DITION OF THE CITY. 

As soon as General Jackson's acceptance of a 
major-generalship in the United States army reached 
Washington, he was assigned to the command of 
" the Southern divison of the army, " as it was 
called, although there were but three half-filled 
regiments in the ** division. " He was ordered to 
stop on his way to the Southern coast, at Fort 
Jackson, long enough to conclude a treaty with the 
Creeks. Altera rest of only three weeks, he started 
on the enterprise which, after many trials, dis- 
appointments and harrowing mortifications, was 
to end in the almost incredible triumph at New 
Orleans. 

After concluding the treaty with the Creeks, on 
the 9th day of August, 1814, General Jackson turned 
his attention to the proceedings of the British at 
Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida. Mobile 
was in possession of the Americans ; Pensacola, of 
the Spaniards. A British fleet had anchored in the 
bay of Pensacola ; a British force had taken up its 
residence in the town. From this vantage-ground 
the British were able to send emissaries among the 
Indians with gifts and promises, which induced 
hundreds of the savages to join the invaders and 



TJie New Orleans Campaign. 173 

threatened devastation to the southern countr^^ 
and massacre to the inhabitants. General Jackson 
requested authority from Washington to invade the 
Spanish territory and drive the British from 
Pensacola. The administration complied with his 
request, and the Secretary of War sent him the 
requisite order, but owing to some fatality, it did 
not reach him for six months, when the war was 
ended. 

It is not surprising that General Jackson was left 
without orders or aid from Washington. That city 
was captured on August 24, 18 14, by the British 
under General Ross; the President and his Cabinet 
fled for safety beyond the reach of pursuit ; and the 
Government was utterly demoralized. It was more 
than a month before President Madison recovered 
from the nervous shock which was occasioned by 
the circumstances of his flight. 

The non-receipt of orders from Washington left 
General Jackson in a sore dilemma. Immediate 
action, involving not only critical military operations 
but still more critical diplomatic considerations, 
was imperative. If he could not obtain orders from 
the government, he must either content himself with 
fatal delay or else take the responsibility of acting 
without orders. He took the responsibility and 
acted. Divining that the British were going to 
attack Mobile, he hastened thither. The British did 
attack Mobile, or rather Fort Bowyer, situated on 
Mobile Point, thirty miles down the bay. As the 
safety of the town depended upon the ability of the 
garrison in Fort Bowyer to beat off the British fleet 
and repel the attack of any land force that should 



1 74 General Andrew Jacksoii. 

be sent against the fort, General Jackson did every- 
thing in his power to meet the enemy successfully 
at that point. The attack was made on the 15th 
of September, 18 14, and was gallantly repulsed by 
Major Lawrence, to whom the defense of the fort 
had been intrusted. This defeat of the British 
ruined their prestige with the Indians, who at once 
began to desert them and sought to make peace 
with the terrible Jackson. This victory also gave 
the inhabitants of the Gulf States confidence in 
General Jackson, and in their ability, under his in- 
vincible leadership, to defend their homes against 
their previously dreaded foes. 

General Jackson was resolved, as he said, " to 
rout the British out of Pensacola." After prodigious 
exertions, on the first of November, Jackson had 
assembled a force of about four thousand troops, 
consisting of General Coffee's little army of twenty- 
eight hundred Tennesseeans, the garrison of Mobile, 
a body of mounted Mississippians, and a small 
number of Creek Indians. With this force he made 
an impetuous but wary dash upon Pensacola, 
" routed out the British," brought the Spanish gov- 
ernor to terms, and made him his steadfast and 
admiring friend. He then hastened back to Mobile. 
He supposed that the British forces routed out of 
Pensacola, and the British fleet driven from Pensa- 
cola Bay, would renew the attack on Mobile. He 
waited ten days for them, and then learned that the 
British land force and their Indian allies, under the 
command of Colonel Nichols, had been landed by the 
fleet at Appalachicola, where they were hard at 
work fortifying their position. He at once sent ^ 



The New Orleans Campaign, 175 

body of troops and friendly Creeks, under Major 
Blue, against them. After some hard fighting, the 
Indians were driven into the interior of Florida, and 
Colonel Nichols was forced to abandon the penin- 
sula. 

Mr. Adams (see chapter 12, Vol. viii of his history) 
seeks to undervalue and belittle this energetic and 
successful campaign against the British and Indians 
in Florida. He assumes, with rare military opacity, 
that the campaign was all a mistake ; that General 
Jackson should have left the British and Indians in 
peace and gone directly to New Orleans. Such a 
course would have been equivalent to Alexander's 
leaving Egypt and Syria unconquered before he 
entered upon his conquest of Asia. But Alexander 
knew better than to commit such an act of folly, 
and so did General Jackson. Professor Sumner 
agrees with Alexander and Jackson. He says : * 

" This energetic action against Pensacola, which 
a timid commander would have hesitated to take, 
although the propriety of it could not be seriously 
questioned, was the second great step in the war in 
the Southwest. If the Creeks had not been subdued, 
Mobile could not have been defended. If Pensacola 
had not been captured, New Orleans could not have 
been defended three months later." 

General Jackson, having pacificated Florida and 
made everything secure in that quarter, was now 
able to devote all his energies to the defense of New 
Orleans. Leaving Mobile in command of General 
Winchester of the regular army, and Fort Bowyer 

* * Sumner's Life of Jackson, 38. 



176 General Andreiv Jackson, 

in command of its defender, Major Lawrence, he 
ordered General Coffee to move by easy marches 
toward New Orleans, and on the 22d of November, 
accompanied only by his staff, he himself started for 
that city. The roads were in a frightful condition ; 
the distance was one hundred and seventy miles. 
The little party rode leisurely, averaging seventeen 
miles a day ; and on the 2d of December, General 
Jackson and his staff arrived within a few miles of 
New Orleans, where they made a brief halt for 
breakfast. 

If General Jackson, on the second day of his 
journey from Mobile to New Orleans (November 
24, 1 8 14), had been aw^are of the magnificent naval 
spectacle which was visible on that day in Negril 
Bay, at the western end of the island of Jamaica, 
twelve hundred miles distant from New Orleans, it 
might have caused him to accelerate his pace. At 
that time and place, the British expedition against 
New Orleans, which was to sail the next dav 
(November 25), had a grand final review. It seems 
as though the magnitude of this expedition was 
never realized by the American people. It was so 
utterly defeated by General Jackson and his small 
force of militia and volunteers, that the public mind 
has never seemed able to grasp its magnitude and 
its power. The fleet comprised forty-eight armed 
vessels, many of them of the most formidable char- 
acter. Some of the ships carried eighty guns ; 
others carried seventy-four ; others carried fifty, 
forty, thirty-eight guns. In addition to these men- 
of-war, there were bomb vessels and transports in 
great numbers. The naval officers in command 



The New Orleans Campaign. ijj 

were veterans of great skill and experience, some of 
whom had achieved renown. Admiral A. J. 
Cochrane commanded the fleet. Among the cap- 
tains was Sir Thomas Masterman Hardj — the gal- 
lant Hardv, '* Nelson's Hardv," as he was called, 
who commanded the J^ictory, Lord Nelson's flagship 
at Trafalgar, and to whom the dying but victorious 
hero said ; '' Kiss me, Hardy ; I am content." Ten 
thousand troops were on board the vessels, and 
about the same number of sailors and marines. 
Among the troops were some of the most renowned 
regiments in the British army ; all of them were 
thoroughly brave and disciplined soldiers, and they 
were commanded by officers equal to any in the 
world. 

On the 25th of November, 18 14, this vast and for- 
midable expedition set sail for New Orleans. Not a 
man in it had the slightest doubt of its success : offi- 
cers and men were alike exhilarated as with the fore- 
taste of assured victor}*, and the British government 
shared their confidence. Favorites of the govern- 
ment had been appointed to fill the civil offices in 
Louisiana. The British collector of the port of New 
Orleans and his five handsome daughters were on 
board one of the vessels ; '' the collector," as a face- 
tious writer of the dav said, " hungry for the honors 
and the spoils of office, and the daughters eager for 
Creole husbands. Thus happily were blended busi- 
ness and romance, masculine avarice and feminine 
tenderness, with military ardor and ambition for 
fame, in this remarkable expedition, which longed 
for the solace of the ' beauty and booty' it expected 
to find, to seize, and to enjoy in New Orleans." 



I yS Geueral Andrew Jackso7i. ' 

After taking possessi(jn of New Orleans, the 
British forces, under the command of Sir Edward 
Pakenham, the Duke of Wellington's brother-in-law, 
and one of his most trusted subordinates, were to 
ascend the Mississippi, reducing the country to Brit- 
ish domination as they went, until they met a co-oper- 
ating British force launched from Canada and com- 
ing down the Mississippi, when the two armies were 
to be united and hold the whole western portion of 
the country, or as much of it as they might choose 
to hold, in subjection to the British crown. 

Of the approach of this powerful expedition the 
government of the United States, the people of New 
Orleans and General Jackson, were entirely ignor- 
ant. But General Jackson was thoroughly con, 
vinced that some British force was coming: from 
somewhere to attack New Orleans. So was Edward 
Livingston, and a few other American patriots. Of 
the inhabitants of New Orleans, then numbering 
about twenty thousand, the majority were of foreign 
blood — French and Spanish. The Americans, about 
eight thousand in number, were such people as are 
usually found in remote frontier localities. Some of 
them were thoroughly honorable men; others 
were of that class who are honorable when honor 
and honesty are the fashion ; and many belonged to 
the class of adventurers and desperadoes who, being 
beyond the pale of the law, are naturally hostile to the 
government which enforces the law. 

This heterogeneous population was at variance. 
The French and the Spaniards were distrustful of one 
another and of the Americans ; the Americans hated 
and distrusted the people of foreign blood, and had 



The New Orleans Campaign, 179 

•■ " ' ■■■■ ■■...-■^ 

bitter feuds among themselves. The governor and 
the legislature were at loggerheads, and whatever 
one party proposed the other opposed. As the peo- 
ple did not wish to be put to the trouble and 
expense of defending the cit}^ they refused to believe 
that the city was in danger. But their sense of secur- 
ity received a severe shock by revelations made to 
the governor by Jean Lafitte, a noted smuggler, who 
was at the head of a colony of smugglers and pirates 
on the bay of Barataria, formed by the island of 
Grand Terre, forty miles south of New Orleans. 
This was the Lafitte who has figured in countless sto- 
ries and novels as " Lafitte, the Pirate," or ''Lafitte 
the Pirate of the Gulf." As a matter of fact, he 
was never at sea but twice in his life ; once when he 
came from France, his native country, to Louisiana, 
and again when he attempted to return, on which 
occasion he was drowned. Lafitte was a loyal citi- 
zen, though not a law abiding one ; and when the 
British, under the mistaken notion that he was a 
pirate of great resources and power, sought to bribe 
him to enter their service and co-operate with an 
approaching British expedition in the conquest of 
Louisiana, he pretended to listen favorably to their 
proposals, but at once sent their written offers to 
Governor Claiborne, and also to a member of the 
Louisiana Legislature. The governor immediately 
laid the documents before a council of officers of the 
army, navy and militia. The council refused to 
beheve in the genuineness of the documents, and 
came to the conclusion that Jean Lafitte was simply 
intriguing to get his brother Dominique out of the 
calaboose, where he was confined for certain serious 



i8o General Andrezu Jackson. 



" irregularities." Governor Claiborne, General 
Villere, of the militia, and Edward Livingston, the 
leading spirits among the Americans, did not coin- 
cide in the opinion of the council. They believed that 
the documents were genuine, that Jean Lafitte told 
the truth, and that New Orleans was menaced by 
serious danger. Lafitte's letter to the governor and 
the accompanying British documents \vere published 
broadside in the New Orleans ncAvspapers, both 
English and French, and occasioned a profound sen- 
sation. A public meeting was called, fiery speeches 
were made, committees were appointed, and the 
entire population was aroused to action. 

But bickering, jealousy and strife continued. 
There was no one in whom the people could or 
would trust sufficiently to accept him as their leader 
and obey his orders. Owing to ^his deplorable state 
of affairs, which grew w^orse and worse for many 
weeks, the efforts to prepare the city for defense 
were neutralized, and it looked as though the 
approaching British would be justified in their 
belief that New Orleans would fall an easy prey to 
their powerful armament. And so it would, had not 
the one man able to defend the city come to its rescue. 



General Jackson in New Oi^leans, i8i 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

EFFECT OF GENERAL JACKSON'S ARRIVAL AT NEW 
ORLEANS — PROCLAMATION OF MARTIAL LAW. 

Yes, the one man in all the world who, under the 
circumstances, could defend New Orleans, was 
close at hand. He came at the very nick of time; 
at the moment when faction had done its worst, and 
when the population was well nigh in a state of 
disintegration. He came bearing the spell of the 
national authority, and crowned with the prestige 
of continuous victory over enemies savage and civ- 
ilized. 

On the morning of December 2, 18 14, as stated in 
the previous chapter, General Jackson, with his 
staff of six worn and travel-stained officers, was 
within an hour's ride of New Orleans. One who 
saw them on the road describes the chief of the 
little party as tall, gaunt and yellow, but very erect 
on his horse, with a countenance expressive of 
energy and decision, and a presence which inspired 
confidence and showed him to be a born leader of 
men. 

The toilsome ride of seventeen days was not 
favorable to his malady, which required, above 
all things, rest and genial food. The whole party 
had almost worn out their clothes in hard service. 
The general had on a small leather cap, a short 
blue cloak, and high dragoon boots, all much dis- 
colored and w^orn. Nevertheless, even the pass- 



1 82 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackson, 

ers-by on the lonely road, long expectant of his 
arrival, did not need to be informed, when they saw 
him, that General Jackson had come. 

The party stopped for breakfast seven miles from 
the city, at the villa of J. K. Smith, a merchant of 
wealth and liberality. The table was covered with 
Creole dainties, of which, however, it was observed 
that the chief partook of nothing but a bowl of the 
exquisite hominy of the region, as white as snow 
and more delicate than rice. On diet similar to this, 
taken frequently and in small quantities, he went 
through the whole of this arduous and exciting cam- 
paign. 

General Jackson did not linger long at the table. 
Looking at his watch, he reminded his companions 
that the day was advancing and they must be get- 
ting on. At this point they left their exhausted 
horses and performed the rest of the journey in car- 
riages, alighting at the abode of Daniel Clark, who 
had been the first Representative of Louisiana in the 
Congress of the United States. 

In the large drawing-room of this spacious man- 
sion General Jackson was received by Governor 
Claiborne, Nicholas Girod, the Creole Mayor of 
New Orleans, by the military and naval officers of 
the vicinity, by the members of the legislature and 
others. Among them was his old friend and com- 
rade, Edward Livingston, then fifty years of age and 
in the maturity of his powers. In a somewhat 
ornate address the governor welcomed the general 
and his staff and placed the entire resources and 
manhood of Louisiana at his disposal, to enable him, 
as he said, to become what the people of the city 



Proclamation of Martial Law. 183 



o 



were already beginning to call him the Savior of 
New Orleans. 

General Jackson made a brief reply, to the effect 
that he had come to defend the city, and was fully 
intent upon doing it. '* I will drive the enemy into 
the sea," he quietly said, *' or perish in the attempt." 
He called upon all the citizens to rally round him, 
to lay aside all differences, all prejudices of race, 
all party feeling, and unite as one man for one 
object, to save the city of New Orleans from the 
dishonor and spoliation of an insolent and ruthless 
foe. 

As most of the gentlemen present understood 
little English, Edward Livingston, who was master 
of both languages, translated the general's address 
into French, and in doing so gave it the tone, the 
elegance and the epigrammatic point which are so 
captivating to French ears and minds. It produced 
a truly electric effect. Every countenance expressed 
relief and confidence, for there was something in the 
calm and resolute demeanor of the general, despite 
his gaunt ancf yellow countenance, his emaciated 
form and his helpless left arm, that gave assurance 
to them all that the man for the hour had come. 

It is doubtful if there was ever a more striking 
illustration of the truth of Emerson's aphorism, 
'* The hero conquers by his presence ; because his 
arrival changes the face of affairs,' than was given 
by the result of General Jackson's arrival at New 
Orleans. The influence of heroism, like that of 
sunlight, is recognized by every one who comes 
within its presence, without regard to condition or 
nationality. Frenchman, Spaniard, American ; the 



184 General Andrew Jackson. 



honest citizen, the vagabond, the cut-throat— all 
felt the spell of the hero's presence. As a spring 
gushing from far up the mountain-side runs down 
into and fills receptacles below it with its pure 
waters, so General Jackson's brave, truthful, rever- 
ent, patriotic, self-reliant nature ran down into the 
minds and hearts of those below him in character, 
filled them with his own heroic spirit, and, while 
the spell of his influence lasted, made patriots and 
heroes of them all. 

The reception over. General Jackson and his 
staff were conducted to the building, which had 
been selected for his headquarters, 106 Royal 
Street, one of the few brick houses of the city, which 
was standing little changed at a recent date. The 
flag of the United States was unfurled from a win- 
dow in the third story, notifying the people that 
General Jackson had assumed the command. From 
that hour there was no more factious controversy, 
no heated arguments for special plans, no distrust 
and no divided allegiance. There was now but one 
plan : to assist General Jackson in defending the 
city ; and there was no strife, except a generous 
emulation to give him the most prompt and efficient 
aid. 

Major A. L. Latour, in his spirited and graphic 
history of the defence of New Orleans, in which he 
took an honorable part, says : "■ The energy mani- 
fested by General Jackson spread, as it were, by 
contagion, and communicated itself to the whole 
army. I shall add, that there was nothing which 
those who composed it did not feel themselves capa- 
ble of performing, if he ordered it to be done. It 



General Jackson in Nczu Orlea7is. 185 



was enough that he expressed a wish, or threw out 
the slightest intimation, and immediately a crowd 
of volunteers offered themselves to carry his views 
into execution." Truly " The hero conquers by 
his presence." 

As soon as General Jackson had taken possession 
of his office, he appointed a new aide-de-camp, 
Edward Livingston, who served in that capacity 
to the end of the strife, and rendered invaluable 
assistance of many kinds. 

To horse again. The uniformed companies of 
the city were drawn up on parade, awaiting review 
by the commanding general. These companies 
consisted of five or six hundred men of various 
equipments and costumes, merchants, lawyers, 
clerks and others. They made an excellent impres- 
sion upon the general, who then for the first time 
saw something of the picturesque aspect of military 
life. He complimented them warmly upon their 
appearance and drill, and made minute inquiries 
as to the history and organization of the companies. 

The new aide-de-camp, at the end of the review, 
invited the general home to dinner, an invitation 
which was promptly accepted. It chanced that 
Mrs. Livingston had invited a few ladies to dinner 
that day, and as Mr. Parton tells us, she received 
the announcement of the honor intended her with a 
good deal of alarm, for she knew little of General 
Jackson except his recent fame as a great Indian 
fighter. 

" What shall we do with this wild general 
from Tennessee ?" whispered the ladies to one 
another, as they sat awaiting his entrance. But 



1 86 General Andrew Jackson, 



when he came in, perfectly composed, an erect, 
bronzed figure, in uniform of coarse blue cloth and 
yellow buck-skin, his high boots flapping loosely, he 
seemed to the ladies the very ideal of the veteran 
warrior. He gave them one of those magnificent 
bows for which he was afterward noted, and behaved 
with a mingled grace and dignity that astonished 
the ladies as much as it delighted them. What 
surprised them most was '' the society tone " of his 
conversation. He begged the ladies, as he rose to 
take his leave, not to give themselves the least con- 
cern about the safety of the city. " I am confident," 
said he, *' of being able to defend it." When he was 
finally out of hearing, and the ladies found them- 
selves alone, they gathered round the hostess, say- 
ing : 

'* Is this your backwoodsman ? Why, madam, he 
is a prince !" ' 

As soon as he returned to his quarters, General 
Jackson had a long conference with the engineers 
in the city, among whom was Major A. L. Latour 
of the regular army, afterward the competent 
historian of the defense. The whole Delta was 
carefully gone over by the aid of maps and plans. 
All the possible approaches were explained and 
considered, and the readiest way of defending each 
was determined upon. In the course of a few hours, 
the work to be done was ascertained and assigned, 
and measures were taken to enlist the co-operation 
of the whole mass of slaves who could be spared 
from household labor. The commanding general 
also laid before the conference of engineers his 
own simple plan of defense, which was to put every 



General Jackson in New Orleans. 187 



possible obstruction in the way of the enemy's 
approach, and to attack him instantly, wherever 
and in whatsoever force he might effect a landing. 

The next morning, the general set out in a barge, 
with his staff and the engineers, to make a personal 
inspection of the vulnerable points on the lines. 
This tour lasted six days. Upon his return, he made 
an extensive tour of inspection around the broad 
bays, which are called Lake Pontchartrain and 
Lake Borgne, by means of which vessels of light 
draught can sail within nine miles of the city. 
When he had completed these surveys, his confidence 
in his ability to defend the city was considerably 
increased, and he had little fear of a surprise. On 
Lake Borgne, too shallow for large vessels, there 
was a fleet of six gunboats, carrying twent3^-three 
guns and one hundred and eighty-two men, under 
the command of Lieutenant Ap Catesby Jones, and 
upon these he relied chiefly for the first news of the 
enemy's approach. 

Let us now enumerate the troops upon which he 
could rely for the defense of the city. On his 
return from his second tour of inspection, December 
14, he had under his command eight hundred regu- 
lars, newly raised, but sufficiently armed ; the 
volunteer companies of the city, about five hundred 
in number; two regiments of State militia, about 
half armed and little acquainted with military duty ; 
a battalion of free colored men, about four hundred 
in number, making a total little exceeding two 
thousand troops actually in the city. Anchored in 
the river were two vessels of war, a small schooner 
named the Carolina, and a ship the Louisiana ^xi^\\h.^x. 



1 88 General Andrezu Jackson. 



of them manned. Captain Patterson and a few other 
naval officers were at hand, rendering zealous and 
skillful service, and ready for any task the general 
might assign them. This was the force actually 
present in the city on the 14th of December, 1814. 

General Coffee with his little army from Pensacola, 
had been for three or four weeks struggling along 
over roads nearly impassable, streams swollen be- 
yond fording, and with forage so scarce that he 
feared to lose all his horses by mere starvation. 
Three hundred men, out of his three thousand, were 
sick with fever, dysentery and exhaustion, but he 
was moving slowly toward the Mississippi River, 
and reached it finally at Baton Rouge, one hundred 
and thirty miles above New Orleans. General 
Carroll also was floating down the river from 
Tennessee, with two thousand volunteers, and one 
musket for every ten of them. Happily, on the way 
he overtook a fiat-boat load of government muskets, 
which enabled him to put a Aveapon in the hands 
of every soldier, and to give them a kind of drill 
every day, on the roofs of their fiat-boats. They 
owed this good fortune to the intelligent and 
patriotic zeal of a Natchez merchant, Mr. Thomas 
L. Servoss, who had been to New York on business 
and learned something of the formidable preparations 
of the enemy against New Orleans. Full of a sense 
of the danger, he urged the captain of the flat-boat 
carrying the muskets to hasten along without stop- 
ping to trade at the river towns, and thus the boat 
reached the lower Mississippi in time to arm 
General Carroll's regiments. 

Two thousand Kentuckians were also descending 



proclamation of Martial Lazo. 189 

the Mississippi, with a few rifles among them, but 
pitifully destitute of blankets, tents and equipage. 
General John Adair, indeed, informs us that all they 
had in the way of equipage was '' a cooking kettle 
to every eighty men." 

Such, then, were the means at General Jackson's 
disposal, on the 14th of December — twenty-five hun- 
dred miscellaneous and inexperienced troops in the 
city, four thousand more within ten days' march, 
six gun-boats on Lake Borgne ; two armed, unmanned 
vessels anchored in the river ; a small garrison of 
regular troops at Fort St. Philip, at the well-known 
bend of the Mississippi ; another small body at a for- 
tified post between the two lakes. Most of the able 
bodied men, black and white, in the Delta, were 
laboring to obstruct the bayous. The citizens gen- 
erally, being all vigorously employed, were full of 
confidence and resolution. 

On the i6th of December, public confidence was 
still further strengthened by the proclamation of 
martial law. This converted New Orleans into a 
camp and all the citizens into soldiers. Rigorous 
military discipline was enforced, and the entire pop- 
ulation was brought under its iron rule. One over- 
mastering mind now controlled everything and 
everybody. Every one seemed to feel the grip of 
the Jacksonian hand upon his shoulder. The effect 
was electric and universal. All timidity vanished ; 
all discord was harmonized ; all rivalry was effaced. 
Public confidence rose to the highest pitch. Gen- 
eral Jackson was believed to be absolutely invinci- 
ble, and this universal belief was equal to a rein- 
forcement of many thousand men. Verily, "■ The 



IQO Ge7ieral Andrew Jackson, 

hero conquers by his presence ; because his arrival 
changes the face of affairs." 

Immeasurably fortunate it was that such confi- 
dence was reposed in General Jackson, for dangers 
were close at hand which nothing but such confi- 
dence in the commanding general could enable the 
defenders of New Orleans to face unflinchingly. 



Arrival of the British. 191 



CHAPTER XIX. 

ARRIVAL OF THE BRITISH — CAPTURE OF THE AMER- 
ICAN GUN-BOATS ON LAKE BORGNE — PICKETS AND 
SENTINELS CAPTURED. 

Let us now see how it has fared with the 
formidable expedition that was so confidently 
advancing to the capture of New Orleans. 

On December seventh, 18 14, after a prosperous 
sail of fifteen days, the British fleet made Ship 
Island, forty-five miles from General Jackson's head- 
quarters, and cast anchor as near the entrance of 
Lake Borgne as the pilots dared to venture. It had 
not been intended to attempt the ascent of the 
Mississippi River, which, indeed, without steamers, 
would have been impossible. The plan was to get 
the attacking army across Lake Borgne and Lake 
Pontchartrain, spacious but shallow bays, supposed 
by the English to be wholly undefended. 

Here the agreeable part of this expedition ended. 
It was a picnic no more. For all hands there was 
nothing now but a deadly conflict with the difficul- 
ties and perils either not foreseen at all, or foreseen 
most imperfectly. 

As the greater ships could go no farther, three 
days were spent in transferring the troops from the 
larger to the smaller vessels, with the supplies they 
needed for immediate use ; an operation that tasked 
severely the resources of the fleet and the endurance 
of the men. At length, December thirteenth, these 



ig2 General Andrezv Jackson. 



lighter vessels deeply laden, thirty in number, hoisted 
anchor and entered Lake Borgne, all hands still 
counting upon taking the city by surprise. 

This delusion was soon dispelled. The lookouts 
reported six ugly-looking gun-boats lying at anchor 
in one of the lake passes, evidently prepared for 
resistance. Admiral Cochrane gave the signal for 
the large vessels to come to anchor and the smaller 
ones to chase, which was done ; but Lieutenant 
Jones, commanding the gun-boats, hoisted sail in a 
leisurely way, and soon led the pursuers to a part 
of the lake where, one after the other, they ran 
aground. 

It was now evident that nothing farther could be 
done against New Orleans until the attacking party 
had absolute control of Lake Borgne. Either the 
American gun-boats must be taken, or the expedi- 
tion must seek access by another pathway. Admiral 
Cochrane did not hesitate a moment, but pro- 
ceeded in the British method of taking the bull by 
the horns. He collected fifty men-of-war's boats, 
placed a small cannon in the bow of most of them, 
and called for volunteers. At daybreak the next 
morning, the fleet of boats, with twelve hundred 
men on board of them, got under way and rowed 
toward the gun-boats, which were then about ten 
miles distant. It was a calm, breathless day. Owing 
to the dead calm, it was impossible to make sail ; so 
nothing remained for Lieutenant Jones but to anchor 
his vessels in line and await the attack of this 
formidable force. The gun-boats made all the 
resistance possible for an hour and forty minutes. 
Several of the English boats were sunk; others 



Arrival of the British. 193 



were injured and obliged to abandon the fight. 
After an hour's fierce exertion, a large number of 
the English boats succeeded in reaching and 
grappling the American vessels, and while the 
British marines kept up a rapid fire of musketry, the 
sailors, cutlass in hand, leaped upon the decks of the 
American boats and overpowered their crews by 
the weight of numbers. 

The severest conflict was on board the vessel of 
Lieutenant Jones, which was somewhat larger than 
the rest of the American fleet. Captain Lockyer, 
who commanded the British, observing that it bore 
the pennant of the commodore, placed himself 
alongside and sprang on board the vessel, followed 
by his crew. A desperate fight ensued. The 
Americans, though outnumbered, fought with the 
traditional valor and prowess of American seamen ; 
but the British were equally brave, and in much 
greater force. Captain Lockyer received several 
wounds ; but soon he was joined by sufficient 
numbers to overpower Lieutenant Jones and his 
resolute men. This was the last of the gunboats to 
surrender. Captain Lockyer reported his loss to be 
seventeen killed and seventy-seven wounded. On 
the American side the loss in killed and wounded 
was sixty, and among the wounded were all the 
gun-boat commanders, except one. 

The English were now masters of Lake Borgne. 
Their victory over the gun-boats had been so com- 
plete that not a man escaped to tell the tale. The 
firing had been heard, however, by inhabitants of 
the desolate shore, and the news had reached Gen- 
eral Jackson in a few hours. 



194 General A^idrew Jackson. 

The British fleet again weighed anchor, hoping to 
sail within easy reach of New Orleans without 
further opposition. But before they had been 
many hours on the voyage, the larger ships began 
to run aground. One after another they stuck fast 
in the mud and could go no further. The troops on 
board of them were transferred to smaller vessels, 
and as these stuck in their turn, the operation of trans- 
ferring]the troops to still smaller vessels was repeated, 
until, toward the close of the day, the lightest vessel 
in the fleet had run aground, and New Orleans 
was yet forty miles distant. A portion of the sol. 
diers were then transferred to the small boats, and 
the voj^age was continued by means of oars. The 
situation now became distressing. Drenching rains 
poured down during the day, and at night benumb- 
ing frosts forbade sleep. Some of the negroes who 
yielded to drowsiness after the troops landed on 
^Pine Island, froze to death in their sleep. After due 
consideration of all the circumstances environing the 
situation, it was determined to collect the whole 
army on Pine Island, preparatory to crossing over 
to the main land. 

It would be difficult to imagine a more dismal 
place than this low, swampy island, with only a few 
acres of firm ground at one end of it. A British 
officer, who accompanied the expedition and wrote 
a history of its adventures, described Pine Island as 
" the abode of wild ducks and apparently the winter 
resort of torpid alligators." To this miserable 
island the British army was gradually brought, in 
the course of the next five days. The sufferings of 
the troops from fatigue, cold, wet and hunger, were 



Arrival of the British. 195 

well nigh unendurable, yet not a murmur or com- 
plaint was heard. From General Keane, who was 
then in command of the army, to the youngest 
drummer, all indulged in the confident hope of 
soon finding rest and luxury in the opulent city of 
New Orleans. 

It seems also that some renegades from the city 
reached Pine Island, who assured the British officers 
that New Orleans was practically defenseless. The 
principal people, they said, had long ago abandoned 
the city, and those who remained would welcome 
the coming of the British troops. They expatiated 
also upon the immense wealth gathered in the 
town, which, in the course of a day or two, would 
become the easy prey of the British army. 

It required five days of heroic exertion and endur- 
ance before the last of the troops reached Pine 
Island. Another day was spent in organizing the 
force into battalions and brigades, and in preparing 
an advanced corps of sixteen hundred men. It was 
not until the morning of December 22nd, that this 
select band of pioneers embarked once more on 
board the boats, now headed for a bayou leading 
out of Lake Pontchartrain to a point about ten 
miles below the city. This bayou, which was then 
called the Bayou de Catiline, is now known by the 
name of Bienvenue. The approach was exceedingly 
well chosen — was, perhaps, the best which that 
amphibious region then afforded. At midnight the 
fleet of boats cast anchor near the entrance of the 
bayou. There, a day or two before, two British 
spies had discovered a picket of eight white men 
and three mulattoes, posted by general Villere, of 



196 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackson. 

the Louisiana militia, for the sole purpose of keep- 
ing a lookout for the enemy's approach. In order 
that the approach of the British might not be made 
known to General Jackson, it was necessary to cap- 
ture this picket without letting one man escape ; 
and as every man on the post was sound asleep, the 
operation was performed with the greatest ease. This 
capture accomplished, the flotilla resumed its course, 
and about nine o'clock landed safely, without discover- 
ing one other sign of human life, at the head of the 
bayou Bienvenue. 

The ground now occupied by the advance corps 
of sixteen hundred men, was little better than a vast 
swamp, covered with tall reeds, and with a few trees 
growing along the banks of the bayou ; but here it 
was that the troops were expected to remain until 
the boats could return to Pine Island and bring up 
the remainder of the force. But now, as we are 
told by the British narrators, the American rene- 
gades, who were serving them as guides, repeated 
their assurances that the city of New Orleans was 
defenseless, and that the British soldiers had but to 
show themselves to be joined by the great mass 
of the population. Moreover, the situation was 
extremely unpleasant, and the position incapable of 
defense if attacked by an enemy familiar with the 
region. The commanding officer, therefore, deter- 
mined to advance and to work his way, with the 
assistance of his native guides, across the marsh to 
the narrow strip of cultivated land a mile wide 
which borders the Mississippi River. 

As soon as this resolution was formed, the boats 
were dismissed and the advanced corps entered upon 



Arrival of the British. 197 

a difficult march of several hours, sometimes wading, 
sometimes leaping a wide ditch, sometimes obliged 
to halt and throw across a deep place a rough 
bridge. Gradually the marsh became firmer, 
groves of orange trees presented themselves, and 
finally two or three houses appeared in view. As 
soon as they came in sight of a house, a rush was 
made to surround it, capture the inmates, and so 
prevent an alarm. They succeeded in this vital 
object, except in a single instance. "" One man," 
says a British officer, " contrived to effect his 
escape." 

This one man was no other than young 
Major Gabriel Villere, the son of General Villere, 
upon whose plantation the British came to a halt. 
From that moment the troops became careless about 
their prisoners, and the British officers endeavored 
by covering as much ground as possible with their 
small force, to give a magnified idea of their num- 
ber. Quickening their pace, too, they soon struck 
the main road leading directly to the city, only 
eight miles distant. Protected now, as they thought, 
by the Mississippi on one side, and on the other side 
by the marsh from which they had just emerged, 
they deemed it an excellent place to halt, dine and 
encamp for the night. They had no thought of an 
attack by the Americans. It had become an adage 
in the British armies that *' The Americans never 
attack." The events of the war thus far had inspired 
the British with contempt for the American com- 
manders. So General Keane resolved to refresh his 
v/orn-out soldiers with food and rest, and capture 
New Orleans at daylight the next morning... 



198 General Andreiv Jackson. 

The invaders had a merry dinner, and the after- 
noon was passed in repose ; nevertheless, every pre- 
caution was taken against surprise, and things were 
so ordered that the entire force could be at once 
rallied to repel an attack. The evening meal was 
still more merry. One of the British chaplains, 
(the Rev. George Robert Gleig,) who wrote under 
the name of '' The Subaltern," has placed on record 
a pleasing account of the manner in which he and 
his comrade passed the first hour of the evening. 

"My friend and myself," he says, ** had been sup- 
plied by our soldiers with a couple of fowls, taken 
from a neighboring hen-roost, and a few bottles of 
excellent claret borrowed from the cellar of one of 
the houses near. We had built ourselves a kind of 
a hut by piling together in a conical form a number 
of large stakes and broad rails torn up from one of 
the fences, and a bright wooden fire was blazing 
at the door of it. In the wantonness of triumph, 
too, we had lighted some six or eight wax candles, 
a vast quantity of which had been found in the store- 
rooms of the chateaux hard by, and having done 
ample justice to our luxurious supper, we were sit- 
ting in great splendor and in high spirits." 

This was very pleasant indeed, and the whole 
camp presented similar scenes of comfort and hilar- 
ity. However, **one man contrived to effect his 
escape," young Major Villcre, as before remarked. 
He was confined in a room of his father's house. 
He was in an agony of apprehension as to the fate 
of New Orleans, unless news of the enemy's 
approach could be carried to General Jackson. He 
was a splendid young Creole — brave, patriotic and 



Arrival of the British. 199 

a famous athlete. He was so surrounded by British 
officers and soldiers that it seemed as though any 
attempt to escape would certainly be fatal. Never- 
theless, he resolved to make an effort to break from 
his captors and carry the news of their proximity 
to his commanding" general. Suddenly he leaped 
through the window of the room in which he was 
confined, ran across the yard full of red-coats, 
cleared a picket fence at a bound, and made for the 
woods. Colonel Thornton, comprehending the con- 
sequences of his escape, shouted to the soldiers: 
" Catch him, or kill him !" But they neither caught 
nor killed him. He reached the woods, though 
pursued by forty or fifty of the troops. Many were 
his adventures during the next few hours, which in 
after years he loved to relate to his friends on the 
piazza of the very house in which he had been cap- 
tured and from which he escaped. Of one of those 
incidents the gallant major could never speak with- 
out tears. Being closely pressed by his pursuers, 
he was about to climb a large live oak for the purpose 
of concealing himself in its branches, when his atten- 
tion was attracted by a low whine at his feet. He 
looked down and saw his favorite setter crouched 
on the ground, and piteously and appealingly look- 
ing up at him in a way which expressed the dog's 
deathless devotion to his master. A great pang 
smote his heart, for he at once saw that the affec- 
tionate setter must be killed, or that he must be cap- 
tured. Had it been only a question of his own 
personal safety, he would have spared the dog and 
accepted capture. But the fate of New Orleans 
was at stake, and to secure the city's safety the set- 



200 General Andrew Jackson. 

ter must die. Seizing a club, he killed the faithful 
dog, concealed the body, climbed the tree, and was 
not discovered, although his pursuers swarmed 
around him. They pressed on in pursuit of him, 
and when their voices could no longer be heard, he 
came down from his hiding place and continued his 
flight. Luckily, he overtook a friend, who was also 
hurrying toward the city with the news. Together 
they obtained a boat, rowed across the river, pro- 
cured swift little Creole ponies, and finally reached 
General Jackson's headquarters at half-past one in 
the afternoon, about half an hour after the British 
troops had come to a halt eight miles below. 



Jackson s Terrific Night Attack. 20 1 



CHAPTER XX. 

GENERAL JACKSON LEARNS THAT THE BRITISH HAVE 
ARRIVED — *'WE MUST FIGHT THEM 
TO-NIGHT !" — HIS TERRIFIC 
NIGHT ATTACK. 

On arriving at General Jackson's headquarters, 
Major Villere and his companions were at once 
shown into the general's* presence. Major Viller6 
told his story, and General Jackson learned that the 
British were at the Viller6 plantation, only eight 
miles from the spot where he stood, whereupon he 
said, with prodigious emphasis : 

" By the Eternal, they shall not sleep on our soil !" 

He then pointed to the sideboard, in the polite 
fashion of the time, took a sip of wine with them, and 
then turning to his staff, uttered the well known 
words : 

" Gentlemen, the British are below. We must 
fight them to-night." 

There spoke the hero, the fittest man. The tri- 
umph of the terrible New Orleans campaign was 
there and then made sure. 

General Jackson prepared and dispatched orders 
to every corps in and near the city, directing them 
to break up their camps and march to the positions 
assigned them, all of which were just outside the 
city on the road to the Viller6 plantation. He sent 
for Commodore Patterson of the navy, and requested 
him to get the little Carolina ready to weigh anchor 



202 General Andrew Jackson. 

and drop down the river. These preliminaries 
arranged, he had an hour at his own disposal, for 
some of the troops were three or four miles dis- 
tant, This interval he improved by taking a 
few tablespoonfuls of boiled rice and half a cup 
of coffee, the only food he tasted that day. Having 
finished this repast, he lay down on a sofa in the 
office and dropped into a doze. What other man 
could have slept on such an occasion ? The old hero 
knew that a little sleep was necessary to enable him 
to go through the coming ordeal, and " By the 
Eternal," he took it, and* it was the last sleep he 
had for seventy hours. 

A little before three o'clock he mounted his 
horse, rode to the lower part of the city, and took 
his stand on the site of the present Branch Mint 
building, then occupied by Fort St. Charles, one of 
the primitive defenses of the city. Before the 
gates of the fort he reined in his horse and 
remained until every corps had passed by to its 
appointed station, each halting a moment to receive 
precise orders as to its position at the rendezvous. 
Behind the general were his six aides-de-camp. The 
troops that passed him were these : 66 marines ; 22 
artillery men, wuth their two six-pounders; two 
regiments of regular troops, 796 in number ; the 
uniformed companies of the city, numbering 287 
men ; a battalion of 210 colored troops ; 18 Choctaw 
Indians ; General Coffee's Tennessee brigade of 
mounted riflemen, 563 men ; a local mounted rifle 
company, 62 in number ; and 107 mounted Missis- 
sippians. Total, 2,131. 

The old people of New Orleans, as long as they 



Jacksoiis Terrific Night Attack. 203 

lived, loved to relate the events of that afternoon, 
particularly the departure of the troops. The win- 
dows were filled with ladies, who waved their hand- 
kerchiefs as the men marched by, and they recog- 
nized husbands, fathers and brothers. During- the 
excitement of the departure, every face wore an 
expression of cheerful confidence, but when at last 
all had gone, and no uniformed men were seen in 
the streets, no riding by of aids, no drill in the 
public squares, no sound of bugle or drum, then the 
women and children and old men left behind, real- 
ized all the seriousness of the situation. A band of 
ladies, who were sewing for the soldiers, sent a mes- 
senger to General Jackson, asking what they were 
to do in case the city was attacked. 

" Say to the ladies," was his reply to the messen- 
ger, " not to be uneasy. No British soldier shall 
enter the city as an enemy, unless over my dead 
body." 

By four o'clock the last corps had passed by the 
general, who, however, still lingered in front of the 
old fort. He was apparently waiting for some- 
thing. He occasionally cast a look toward the 
Carolina^ still anchored in the stream. He attached 
much importance to the part she was to play in the 
coming event. It was not until he saw her at last 
hoist her anchor and float down the rapid stream, 
that the commander-in-chief, followed by his staff, 
rode down along the levee road by which the 
troops had gone. 

Those who saw General Jackson as he thus rode 
to battle, never forgot the spectacle. He was one of 
the finest horsemen that ever sat in a saddle. His 



204 General And^^ew Jackson. 



heart was on fire with patriotism, and his soul was 
aglow with the joy of coming conflict. The long 
awaited hour had come when, with an army under 
his own command, he was to meet the foe that from 
boyhood he had yearned to encounter. With his 
patriotic mind thus inspired, with his resolute soul 
thus animated, he rode to meet the invaders as the 
conqueror rides, with the light of battle on his brow 
and the assurance of victory in his dauntless heart. 
As one of his contemporaries said : *' A great 
silence enveloped him, and his companions looked 
upon him with awe." 

He arrived about half-past four at the Rodriguez 
canal, which formerly cut the plain between the 
Cypress swamp and the river. This line was two 
miles from the British pickets, and the orders were 
not to go beyond it, and to avoid everything which 
could attract the enemy's attention. 

At five o'clock, while there was still a little day- 
light, Inspector-General Hayne, of South Carolina, 
with a hundred horsemen as an escort, made a 
rapid reconnoissance of the British position, and 
then as rapidly returned. He estimated their 
strength at two thousand. He had the pleasure of 
reading a printed bill stuck upon many of the plan- 
tation fences, which read as follows : 

" Louisianians ! Remain quiet in your houses. Your slaves 
shall be preserved to you, and your property respected. We 
make war only against Americans. 

" John Keane, General Commanding. 

" A. J. Cochrane, Admiral." 

A negro was overtaken by the horsemen with 



Jackson s Terrific Nig Jit Attack. 205 



printed copies of this proclamation in his pocket, in 
Spanish and in French. By the time the inspector- 
general returned it was quite dark, and the British 
watch-fires, blazing freely all over the narrow 
plain, revealed their position to the American forces 
as conveniently as if they themselves had ordered 
the illumination. By six o'clock, General Jackson 
had issued his final orders. Coffee, with his rifle- 
men and the other mounted men, was to march 
across the plain to the Cypress Swamp, turn down 
toward the enemy, and keep them close ta the river. 
When this movement was in a good state of for- 
wardness, and the Carolina had come to anchor 
opposite the British camp and close in shore, the 
rest of the troops were to march directly and rapidly 
upon the enemy. The signal of attack was to come 
from the Carolina. Not a shot was to be fired, nor a 
sound uttered, until the first gun of her broadside 
was heard. 

It required nearly an hour for the commodore to 
get his little vessel anchored just where he wanted 
her, and even that scarcely gave General Coffee 
time enough to perform his five-mile march, dis- 
mount his men and get near enough to respond to 
the signal. 

All this elaborate and long-continued preparation 
was completed without in the least alarming the 
British pickets. Their whole army had enjoyed an 
ample and even a luxurious repast. Some of them, 
as we have seen, were seated in their huts sipping 
the claret taken from the neighboring houses, in the 
light of half a dozen wax candles. Some of the men 
were already asleep ; others were preparing for their 



2o6 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackson. 



beds. To quote again the language of '' The Subal- 
tern : 

" We were sitting in great splendor and in high 
spirits at the entrance to our hut, when the alarm of 
an approaching schooner was communicated to us. 
With the sagacity of a veteran, Grey instantly 
guessed how matters stood. He was the first to hail 
the suspicious stranger, and on receiving no answer 
to his challenge, he was the first to fire a musket in 
the direction of her anchorage. But he had scarcely 
done so when she opened her broadside, causing the 
instantaneous abandonment of fires, viands and mirth 
throughout the bivouac." 

Thus the attack was begun. The broadside of 
grape and canister from the Carolina, laid prostrate 
upon the plain, as some authorities give it, a hun- 
dred British soldiers. She continued to fire into the 
darkness with cannon and musketry, without know- 
ing aught of the effect of her fire, and ceased only 
when the flash and noise of the battle showed that 
no enemy was within her reach. For the space of 
ten minutes after she began the attack, General 
Jackson withheld the word for the troops near him 
to advance. Then he gave it, and each corps 
marched down toward the foe ; while General 
Coffee was still making his way across the plain, not 
near enough yet to join in the strife. 

No one can relate the events of this memorable 
night. For two hours, there was a nearly continu- 
ous, confused combat. All sorts of mistakes were 
made. Men rushing forward to take prisoners found 
themselves captured. At one time the horses 
attached to the pieces of artillery, terrified and 



Jackson* s TeriHjic Night Attack. 207 

wounded, overturned one of the cannon into a ditch 
and created a scene of confusion that threatened 
serious consequences. Major Eaton describes the 
commander-in-chief as dashing into the midst of the 
tumult, with the cry, '' Save the guns, my boys, at 
every sacrifice !" The presence of the general calmed 
the marines engaged, who, with the assistance of 
another company, drew the guns out of danger. 
Early in the fight. Coffee's hunting-shirted Tennes- 
seeans reached the scene of conflict. Their skill in 
such irregular combats and the deadly fire of their 
long rifles enabled them to drive the British whg 
were opposed to them from their position. But the 
darkness was so dense that neither the Americans 
nor the British knew what was going on, except in 
each company's immediate neighborhood. Both 
sides fought gallantly. During the engagement, 
the second division of the English troops arrived 
and re-enforced the advanced corps. Soon after, 
the fog from the river became so dense as to compel 
the suspension of aggressive movements. By ten 
o'clock, all of the American troops who could be 
found had been withdrawn from the field and were 
spread over the plain a mile or two from the scene 
of conflict. The British, too, had withdrawn some 
distance below, leaving the actual field of battle in 
possession of the dead. General Keane officially 
reported his loss at 46 killed, 167 wounded, 64 pris- 
oners and deserters ; total, 277. The American loss 
was: killed, 24 ; wounded, 115; missing, 74; total 
213. 

When General Jackson gave the order to with- 
draw the troops, his intention was to renew the 



2o8 General Andrew Jackson. 

battle at daylight, and to this end he sent a dispatch 
to the city, ordering the men who remained in and 
about New Orleans to join him instantly. But, 
toward midnight, British deserters brought certain 
information that General Keane had been strongly 
re-enforced. 

General Jackson was as cautious as he was brave, 
and at critical times he was as prudent as he was 
resolute. It did not take him long to see that it 
would be rash to risk the campaign upon a fight in 
the open field, between twenty-five hundred raw 
troops without bayonets, and some thousands of 
British veterans, well-armed and vigorously com- 
manded. 

It was ordered, therefore, at the conclusion of a 
midnight council on the field, to march back at day- 
break to the old rendezvous behind the Rodriguez 
canal, there make the best line of defense possible, 
and await the enemy's advance. 

So far as its consequences can be estimated, Gen- 
eral Jackson's speedy attack on the invaders was 
enormously successful. It gave them an exagger- 
ated idea of the number of his men and of his readi- 
ness to repel any attack they could make on New 
Orleans. It in fact paralyzed their movements for a 
period which enabled him to construct the famous 
line of breast-works that insured his triumph when 
the decisive struggle came. 

There was only a mile of firm ground between the 
river and the swamp. The two men-of-war remaining 
at their anchorage below the canal, could render the 
enemy's advance certainly difficult, perhaps impos- 
sible. If the worst came to the worst the levee 



Jackson s Terrific Night Attack, 209 




could be pierced and the plain flooded. To mask 
the contemplated movements, Colonel Hind's dra- 
goons were to retain a position between the two 
armies and do their utmost to veil the movements 
designed. 

While the general and his officers were settling 
this plan, the troops were standing in the open field, 
tired out with long marches and penetrated with the 
chill of the foggy night. Permission was given to 
light fires. In twenty minutes the whole plain was 
lighted up by hundreds of watch fires, every squad 
of men having their own, and thus conveying to the 
foe an impression that the American army was far 
more numerous than it really was. 

The fires were welcome, indeed, to General 
Coffee's men, few of whom came out of the battle 
with a whole garment. Many of them were shiver- 
ing in their shirt-sleeves, having thrown away their 
hunting-shirts. 

The Rodriguez canal, as it was called, was 
nothing but an old mill-race, extending across the 
plain where it was narrowest. It was now partly 
filled up and grown over with grass. It had been 
originally cut for the purpose of obtaining water- 
power when the river was high, but there was now 
no water in it. Soon after dawn, of December 24, 
the main body of General Jackson's armv was in 
position behind this canal, and, a little later, 
wagon-loads of intrenching tools, besides carts and 
wheel-barrows, began to arrive from the city. They 
had been sent for soon after midnight. Now, 
December 24, 18 14, began the formation of the 
memorable '' Lines " of General Jackson on the 



1 



2IO General Andrew Jackson. 






Delta of the Mississippi, which defended the city 
of New Orleans. The tools were distributed as 
fast as they arrived. 

" Here," said Jackson, as he looked down upon 
the scene, '* here we will plant our stakes, and not 
abandon them until we drive those red-coat rascals 
into the river or the swamp !" 



Pakenham s Vigorous Measures. 211 



CHAPTER XXI. 

GENERAL PAKENHAM ARRIVES IN THE BRITISH 
CAMP WITH REINFORCEMENTS — HIS VIGOR- 
OUS MEASURES. 

Before dark, on December 24th, General Jack- 
son's Lines were raised to an average height of four 
or five feet, and were supposed to be thick enough 
to resist a cannonade ; and so they were, except 
where a few cotton bales had been used in their 
construction. The two pieces of artillery, saved 
the night before by General Jackson's intrepidity, 
were placed in position to command the high road. 
There was no sign of the enemy during the day. No 
alarm interrupted the work for a moment ; because, 
early in the morning, the Carolina from her anchor- 
age opposite the British camp, and the Louisiana 
from an excellent position a mile above, completely 
paralyzed the foe. The vessels not only com- 
manded the road along the levee, but also the entire 
breadth of the plain. Not a regiment could be 
formed within the range of their guns. The Brit- 
ish troops were, in fact, besieged. They could do 
nothing while the daylight lasted but crouch close 
under the levee, or lie at the bottom of ditches, or 
find shelter behind huts and houses, or retreat 
beyond the range of a fire which they could not 
endure and could not silence. 

This was the day before Christmas. It was the 
day on which, at noon, in the city of Ghent, the 



2 12 General Andrew Jackson, 



treaty of peace was signed between Great Britain 
and the United States. It was precisely at noon 
when one of the secretaries of the American com- 
missioners announced to a group of invited guests 
at their quarters that the peace had been signed. 
Soon after, Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Clay and the other 
commissioners entered and confirmed the joyful 
news, which rapidly spread over Europe. A few 
evenings after, when the news was announced in 
the theatres of Paris, the people rose and cheered 
the United States. If there had then been an 
Atlantic cable, the men of these two contending 
armies would at once have become friends. Gen- 
eral Jackson and General Keane might have dined 
together at the hospitable abode of Major Living- 
ston. Indeed, Admiral Cochrane had said, before 
leaving his ship, that he should eat his Christmas 
dinner at New Orleans. *' If he does," said General 
Jackson, on hearing of the remark, " I shall have the 
honor of presiding at the meal." 

Christmas dawned upon a scene of cheerful 
activity in the American Lines below New Orleans. 
The men were at work as soon as they could see, 
and continued their labor with animated hope and 
gay alacrity all day long ; and they were assisted by 
the floating laborers from the city, by the sailors 
and slaves ; the horses, also the mules, the oxen, and 
whatever creatures could lift, draw or carry, were 
all employed in strengthening the American posi- 
tion against an attack, which might come at any 
moment. General Jackson had established his head- 
quarters in a roomy mansion-house two hundred 
yards behind the Lines, from an upper window of 



Pake7t/ia7n's Vigor otcs Measures. 213 

which, above the trees which surrounded it, he 
surveyed the situation with the aid of an old tele- 
scope lent him by an aged Frenchman. The men 
had the feeling of working under their commander's 
eye. 

" May I go to town to-day, General ?" asked the 
son, sixteen years of age, of Edward Livingston. 
He had been complimented with the title of captain, 
and had worked assiduously with the rest of the 
young men of the city. 

*' Of course, Captain Livingston," replied General 
Jackson, " you may go. But ought you to go?" 

The boy made no reply. He blushed, saluted, and 
went back to his place in the works. 

In the British camp, three or four miles away, 
Christmas morning broke gloomily, indeed. There 
was discouragement and discontent, for the position 
of the army was felt to be erroneous, and many of 
the officers thought it beyond rectification. But in 
the course of the morning an event occurred that 
completely restored their former confidence. This 
was the arrival in camp, to take the supreme com- 
mand, of Major-General Sir Edward Pakenham, and 
with him, at the head of a numerous and capable 
stafE, Major-General Samuel Gibbs. The troops 
greeted General Pakenham's arrival with enthusias- 
tic cheers, and began at once to cast about for the 
means of enjoying a Christmas dinner. To some of 
the officers who had lost comrades in the recent 
action, the repast had little in it of hilarity or 
festivity. 

If for a few moments they could forget their 
situation, a round shot from the little Carolina 



b 



214 General Andrew Jackson, 

reminded them of their situation and of what they 
had to do. She managed to elevate her single 
twelve-pounder to such a degree, and to fire with 
such accuracy, that a spent ball occasionally struck 
the side of the barn in which these officers were 
dining. Once they were alarmed by the piercing 
shriek of a soldier without, who had been nearly cut 
in halves by one of the Carolina s balls. 

All day General Jackson sat at his upper window, 
unable to see the enemy's position and marvelling at 
their inactivity. It was so obvious to hifn that their 
only chance was an immediate attack, that he began 
to fear they might have some deeper scheme for 
getting around his position than he, a soldier of the 
backwoods, could divine. 

General Pakenham was not idle. The moment he 
reached the camp and had received the report of 
the general in command, he proceeded to examine 
the position. He determined, first of all, to destroy 
the Carolina. By the evening of December 26, after 
twenty-four hours of strenuous exertion, nine field- 
pieces, two howitzers and a furnace for heating balls 
were brought from the fleet and placed in position 
on the levee opposite to where the Carolina was 
immovably fixed. During the night everything 
was made ready ; the guns were placed, the shot 
were heated. 

At dawn on the twenty-seventh of December, the 
British opened fire on the Carolina. The second 
shot, white hot, penetrated her side and lodged in 
the main hold, where the fire could not be reached 
nor quenched. The contest was fierce while it 
lasted, but it was over in half an hour. The crew 



PakenhawHs Vigorous Measures. 215 

of the Caroli7ta were forced to abandon her, and she 
blew up with an explosion which shook the earth 
for miles around and was heard in New Orleans. 
The Louisiana escaped ; her crew, in boats propelled 
by oars, towing her to a place of anchorage, close in 
shore, opposite General Jackson's headquarters. 

The American army lamented the loss of the little 
vessel to which they owed so much, and experienced 
a brief discouragement. The English were cor- 
respondingly elated. They were now for the first 
time able to form a battalion on the plain, or eat 
their dinner, or sleep at night, without danger of 
disturbance from the Carolina s aggravating balls. 
This gave General Pakenham an opportunity to 
test the fighting power of the Americans which he 
was not slow to improve, and which General Jack- 
son welcomed with the belligerent alacrity that he 
always displayed when anticipating the festivity of 
battle. 



2i6 General Andrew Jackson. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

GENERAL PAKENHAM TESTS THE FIGHTING POWER 
OF THE AMERICANS — GETTING READY FOR THE 

FINAL STRUGGLE. 

General Pakenham's next operation he styled a 
reconnaissance . He had not yet seen the American 
position, and could not see it without the coopera- 
tion of a large force. The whole of December 27 
was employed by both armies in laborious prepara. 
tion for a movement which had now become possible. 
The crew of the Carolina were stationed in the Lines 
to serve the heavy artillery. From daylight till 
dark the whole American force labored at the 
embankment and the canal, a work of peculiar and 
always increasing difficulty from the scarcity of soil. 
The British spent the day in bringing up stores and 
heavy guns from the ships, as well as field-pieces, of 
which, before night, they had ten at the front. 
General Jackson gave them no peace, night or day. 
As " The Subaltern " says : 

"The Americans harassed our pickets, killed and 
wounded a few of the sentinels, and prevented the 
main body from obtaining any sound or refreshing 
sleep. Scarcely had the troops lain down when 
they were roused by a sharp firing at the outposts, 
which lasted only till they were in order, and then 
ceased ; but as soon as they had dispersed and had 
once more addressed themselves to repose, the same 
cause of alarm returned, and they were again called 



Ready for the Final Sti'uggle, 2 1 7 



to their ranks. Thus was the entire night spent in 
watching, or at best in broken and disturbed slum- 
bers; than which nothing is more trying, both to 
the health and spirits of an army." 

Soon after dawn, on December 28, General Jack- 
son was aware that the enemy were about to 
approach his Lines. He was ready for them. His 
forces had been greatly increased, his Lines strength- 
ened. The Louisiana, saved the day before by the 
skill of her commander, Lieutenant Thompson, was 
only waiting for the word to let out her cable and 
swing into position. 

General Pakenham accomplished his purpose of 
viewing the American position. His army marched 
in two columns, and presented an appearance as 
compact and orderly as if on parade, giving the raw 
troops behind the American Lines, for the first time 
in their lives, a spectacle of military pomp and cir- 
cumstance. The muskets of the British troops 
glittered in the morning sun, and their various 
uniforms, red, tartan, grey and green, were 
brilliantly displayed upon the brown stubble of the 
Delta. The nature of the ground and the situation 
of the plantation houses were such that the British 
did not come in view of the American position 
until they were fully exposed to the American fire. 
Artillery and small arms began at once their deadly 
work. The great guns were aimed by the same 
men that had yesterday manned the Carolina, and 
they were now assisted by the band of the Lafittes 
from Barataria. The British officers record that 
scarcely one cannon-ball passed over their heads or 
fell much short of their line, but nearly every one 



2i8 Ge7ieral Andreiv Jackson. 

struck into the midst of their ranks, causing terrible 
havoc. Moreover, at the very crisis of the advance, 
the plantation houses, which had veiled the Amer- 
ican position, were set on fire, and blazed up as if 
full of combustibles. This greatly added to the 
embarrassment and peril of the English troops. 
While the cannonade mowed down their ranks, the 
fire of two large chateaux and their villages of out- 
buildings scorched some of the troops and blinded 
most of them with smoke. At the right moment, 
too, the Louisiana had joined in the fray, and swept 
the level field with heavy shot continuously from 
nine o'clock till three. 

This movement though styled a reconnoissance, was 
not so regarded by the British officers who have 
left a record of it. They expected to sleep in New 
Orleans that night, but, as " The Subaltern " informs 
us, before they had got near enough to General Jack- 
son's canal to form a conjecture of its breadth or 
depth, the order came for the men to halt and to 
shelter themselves as best they could. " Long before 
noon," he says, " all thought of attacking was for 
this day abandoned, and it now only remained to 
withdraw the troops from their present perilous 
position with as little loss as possible." It took all 
the rest of the day to accomplish this. During the 
long afternoon, the Peninsula heroes lay low in wet 
ditches, or crawled away behind fences, huts and 
burning houses, the cannon-balls occasionally 
** knocking down the soldiers and tossing them into 
the air like old bags." An officer explored one of 
the elegant houses near their line of march, the hall 



Ready for the Final Struggle, 2 1 9 



of which was floored with variegated marble and 
adorned by two large globes and an orrery. 

'' On entering a bedroom," he remarked, " lately 
occupied by a female of the family, I found that our 
advance had interrupted the fair one in her study 
of natural history, as a volume of Buffon was lying 
open on her pillow\" 

He also observes that, *' in spite of our sanguine 
expectation of sleeping that night in New Orleans, 
evening found us occupying our negro hut at 
Villere's ; nor was I sorry that the shades of night 
concealed our mortification from the prisoners and 
slaves." 

Commodore Patterson reports that the Louisiana 
was exposed to the enemy's cannonade that day 
upward of seven hours, during which she fired eight 
hundred shot, and yet had but one man slightly 
wounded. His men, he says, were all picked up 
from the streets of New Orleans, *' and yet I never 
knew guns better served or a more animated fire." 

The repulse of the British inspired General Jack- 
son with new ardor in the defense of his post. 
Besides planting more cannon where this action had 
shown them to be necessary, and extending his 
breastworks farther into the swamp, he began a 
new line of defense two miles nearer the city, in case 
he should be driven back. He requested Commo- 
dore Patterson to plant cannon on the opposite bank 
of the river, and there the indefatigable commodore, 
aided by Major Latour, established a battery of 
heavy guns. The streets of New Orleans were 
searched again and again to man the new works, 
and the general urged the ladies to examine once 



2 20 General Andrew Jackson. 

more their houses and to send to the front every 
musket and pistol and even every flint and ramrod 
that they could find. Men kept coming in from the 
upper country without arms and almost without 
clothes, and there were many already in the Lines 
who had nothing resembling a weapon except the 
pickaxe and the spade with which they worked. 

Sir Edward Pakenham called a council of war 
after the great repulse of the twenty-eighth. Its 
conclusion was to regard General Jackson's Lines 
in the light of a fortified place, to be taken by a reg- 
ular approach. They resolved to construct a line of 
works parallel to his, at a distance from it not exceed- 
ing three hundred yards. During the next three 
days, thirty pieces of heavy cannon were brought 
up from the fleet with prodigious labor. On the 
last night of the year 1814, as soon as it was quite 
dark, one-half the British army marched forward to 
a line about three hundred yards from that of the 
Americans, and there they spent the night throwing 
up a chain of batteries. The night was very dark, 
and the soldiers were ordered to work in perfect sil- 
ence. They soon experienced the same scarcity of soil 
which had induced General Jackson to employ bales 
of cotton. The English had no cotton within reach, 
but every storehouse and barn about them was 
filled with hogsheads of sugar, the crops of the last 
two years. These were rolled into position in 
immense numbers, and they gave at least a comfort- 
ing appearance of strength to the British works. 

New Year's Day dawned slowly upon this novel 
scene, for a dense fog had overspread all the plain. 
During the night, a suspicious sound of hammering 



Ready for the Final Struggle. 221 

had been heard in the direction of the enemy's 
camp by the American sentinels ; but after daylight 
all was silent. As late as nine o'clock, no sound 
was heard and no movement was perceived. Gen- 
eral Jackson therefore allowed, for the first time, a 
brief respite from the intense toil of the last eight 
days. 

The English, too, were inactive, waiting silent 
within their works ; but waiting only for the lifting 
of the fog to open a simultaneous fire from their six 
new batteries. Suddenly, toward ten o'clock, the 
fog dispersed, so as to reveal clearly the American 
position, and even the sun shone forth, diffusing a 
welcome warmth and brilliant light. 

" We could perceive," wrote *' The Subaltern," 
" all that was going forward in the American Lines, 
with great exactness. The different regiments were 
upon parade, and being dressed in holiday suits, pre- 
sented really a fine appearance. Mounted officers 
were riding backward and forward through the 
ranks ; bands were playing and colors floating in 
the air. In a word, all seemed jollity and gala." 

He might have added, if he had known the fact, 
that General Jackson's horse was standing saddled 
near headquarters, and that the general himself, 
with a portion of his staff, was about to mount and 
ride out for a New Year's review of the troops. 

At that moment the whole of the thirty pieces of 
artillery in the British batteries opened fire upon 
the regiments so gayly parading. The sky was 
filled with hundreds of Congreve rockets. Such 
was the violence of the fire that during the first ten 
minutes one hundred balls struck General Jackson's 



222 



General Andrew Jackson, 



headquarters, and it was marvelous that himself and 
his staff escaped from the building without serious 
injury to any one. His troops were about ten min- 
utes in getting back to their guns and opening fire. 
Then was seen the wisdom of the measures taken 
during the last three days. Commodore Patterson's 
battery, on the opposite bank, poured a fearful fire 
into the very midst of the British position, while 
the direct fire from Jackson's Lines was maintained 
with a force and vigor far surpassing that of three 
days before. Fifty pieces of artillery of large cali- 
bre were concentrated upon the British position 
for an hour and a half. The smoke was then so 
dense that nothing whatever could be seen, and sev- 
eral of the guns were so hot that it was no longer 
safe to charge them. 

About noon the order was given to the American 
batteries to cease firing. Slowly the smoke rolled 
away from the plain, and the result of the fire was 
gradually disclosed. While no serious impression 
had been made upon the American fortifications, the 
six batteries of the British, which had presented such 
a formidable appearance in the morning, were almost 
level with the earth. The guns were all over- 
thrown. The sailors who had manned them were 
seen running to the rear, and all over the plain 
were descried indications that the British troops 
had again taken to the ditch, and were hiding behind 
huts and heaps of stubble. 

Those hogsheads of unsalable sugar were the 
cause of this swift destruction of the British batter- 
ies. The sugar had afforded no protection whatever 
against the American fire. The balls went straight 



Ready for the Final Struggle, 223 

through the hogsheads, not perceptibly impeded. 
It had been better if the English artillerymen 
had been exposed to view without this semblance of 
defense. On this day, too, General Jackson discov- 
ered the insufficiency of cotton-bales. They were 
knocked about by the heavy cannon-balls in an 
alarming manner, and some of them caught fire, 
making an intolerable smoke. They were all 
quickly removed, and their places supplied with the 
black and spongy soil of the Delta. 

The great superiority of the American artillery 
fire astounded the British. The unusual skill of 
American riflemen had long been conceded ; but 
the English had believed that in an artillery contest 
the Americans would be no match for them. The 
discovery that their raw, uncouth foes could shoot 
almost as accurately with cannons as they could 
with rifles, had a depressing effect upon the British. 
They were now, for the first time, seriously and 
generally disheartened. The spirit of the rank and 
file was broken. Twice they had marched toward 
Jackson's Lines only to be frustrated with every 
circumstance of painful discomfiture, and it was 
hard to convince them that they were not fatally 
overmatched. They had nothing to eat but the 
salt provisions they had brought with them ; the 
sharpshooters gave them no rest at night, and they 
were now exposed to a fire of eighteen guns from 
the opposite side of the river. It was not, as one of 
the British officers remarked, that the men wished to 
escape from a disagreeable situation. They were 
like chained dogs, that see their enemy but cannot 
reach him, and can only growl and gnash their teeth. 



2 24 Genei^al Andrew Jackson, 



This second repulse took place on Sunday, January 
first. Four days then passed away, with no move- 
ment on the part of the British which General Jack- 
son could discern or guess. He was strongly 
inclined to believe that a soldier of such experience 
and celebrity as General Pakenham would not make 
a third attempt to accomplish the impossible. He 
even wrote to the Secretary of War that, in his 
opinion, the Lines he then held would not be again 
attacked. Having reached this conclusion and 
waited four days, he became intensely anxious with 
regard to General Pakenham's next scheme. He 
expected him to withdraw from his present false 
position, and, perhaps, make his appearance sud- 
denly in some other part of the Delta. 

General Jackson had not forgotten the lessons of 
war which, while a boy of fourteen, he had studied 
through his knot-hole in the prison fence at Camden, 
thirty-five years before. He remembered that a 
few hours' relaxation of discipline and vigilance had 
led to General Greene's disastrous defeat by an 
inferior force of the enemy. He was determined 
that no disaster should occur to his troops or to the 
enterprise entrusted to him, through lack of pre- 
caution on his part. He sent spies in every direc- 
tion. He watched the enemy's position with 
unslumbering vigilance. He had men floating 
down past it in the night, and a few spies succeeded 
every day in bringing a semblance of news from the 
British camp. He passed many hours of acute 
anxiety while appearing to be intent upon nothing 
but strengthening his Lines, which he firmly believed 



Ready for the Final Struggle, 225 



to be impregnable against the force arrayed against 
him. 

Toward the close of the week it became evident 
to General Jackson that a more formidable advance 
of the enemy than he had yet Avithstood was about 
to be made upon his Lines, simultaneously with an 
attack upon his new works on the other side of the 
Mississippi. He believed that this movement would 
bring on the closing struggle between the Ameri- 
cans and the invaders, and he was ready for it. 

Meanwhile, the electric news of his success in thus 
far holding his ground against an expedition so for- 
midable was spreading through the land, and gradu- 
ally fixing all minds, in blended hope and apprehen- 
sion, upon what he and his brave men were doing in 
the Delta of the Mississippi. 



\ 



V 



226 General Andrew Jackson, 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

PRELIMINARIES OF THE GREAT BATTLE— GENERAL 
JACKSON READY FOR THE FIGHT. 

At one o'clock on Sunday morning, January 8, 1815, 
General Jackson was asleep at his headquarters, in 
his old-fashioned and threadbare uniform of buff and 
blue. Precisely at that hour, as the custom was, the 
troops in the Lines, consisting of half the force, were 
relieved by the other half, and for a few minutes 
every man in the army was in motion. All was 
done in silence. Not the flash of a lantern was per- 
mitted, nor a sound that could be avoided ; and very 
soon all was still again. Then a messenger from 
Commodore Patterson arrived at headquarters. 
The sleeping general was aroused and listened to 
the messenger's report. It was to the effect that 
Commodore Patterson and General Morgan, from 
personal observations made by them during the 
afternoon and night, were assured that, while a feint 
would soon be made by the enemy on General Jacl|L-Y 
son's Lines, their main attack would be deliverc'ftf 
against the works on the other side of the riveiS': 
wherefore. General Morgan requested that rein- 
forcements should be sent to him immediately. 

'* Hurry back," replied General Jackson, as he sat 
upon the lounge on which he had been sleeping, 
*'and tell General Morgan that he is mistaken. The 
main attack will be on this side, and I have no men 



Ready fo7^ the Battle. 227 

to spare. He must maintain liis position at all 
hazards." 

The messenger, who was B. D. Shepherd, a patri- 
otic merchant, withdrew and returned with all speed 
to the other side. General Jackson had patiently 
considered this very danger, and felt acutely his 
weakness on the other side of the river ; but, in 
truth, he had not a man to spare, and if he had had 
men, he had not weapons to place in their hands. 
To hold his own Lines and batteries, extending a 
mile across the plain, he had but about three thou- 
sand two hundred men, and he expected at daybreak 
an attack of twelve thousand veteran troops. This 
[-was the prevailing estimate of the enemy's force at 
headquarters. 

There was no more sleep for General Jackson. 
When Shepherd was gone, he looked at his watch, 
and finding that it was past one, he said to his slum- 
bering aids : 

" Gentlemen, we have slept enough. Rise. The 
enemy will be upon us in a few minutes. I must go 
and see Coffee." 

There was not much to be done in the way of 
preparation, on the American side, for either officers 
or men. By four o'clock, every company was at its 
post in the Lines, very much as usual, for few of 
the troops yet suspected that the final attack was 
about to be made upon them. General Jackson 
and his immediate circle were sure of it, but before 
he had lain down upon his lounge the evening 
before, he had performed every act which he could 
think of to make his preparations for the contest 
complete. One of his last measures proved to be 



2 28 General Andrew Jackson, 



of great value. The day before, after finishing his 
final inspection of the Lines and batteries, he had 
turned to his companion, General Adair, of Ken- 
tucky, a recent arrival, and said : 

" Well, what do you think of our situation? Can 
we defend these works or not ?" 

"• There is one way," replied General Adair, " and 
but one way in which we can hope to defend them. 
We must have a strong corps of reserves to meet 
the enemy's main attack, wherever it may be. No 
single part of the Lines is strong enough to resist 
the united force of the enemy. But with a strong 
column held in our rear, ready to advance upon any 
threatened point, we can beat them off." 

General Jackson accepted the suggestion, and 
ordered Adair himself to act with his Kentuckians 
as the reserve, giving him ample discretion as to the 
selection of his post. And thus it was that General 
Adair, at a quarter past four on the decisive morn- 
ing, with a thousand Kentucky riflemen, marched 
down to a point fifty yards behind the portion of 
the works which a deserter, the day before, had 
correctly informed General Pakenham was the 
weakest part of the American position. Adair's 
selection of the spot was one of the fortunate cir- 
cumstances of the great day. In combination with 
the deserter's report to the British commander, 
it resulted in the leading of the main column of the 
invading army into a trap, from which it escaped 
only in defeat and with horrible slaughter. 

General Pakenham, too, was up betimes. He 
rose full of hope. He was supposed to be the ablest 
commander of his age — thirty-seven — then living. 



Ready for the Battle. 229 

He was a handsome, noble, chivalric gentleman, 
animated by a lofty sense of duty, and as generous 
as he was brave. He little thought, as he mounted 
his horse that morning, that the shadow of death 
was already beginning to envelope him. He was 
in the saddle at two o'clock, and rode at once to 
the bank of the river to see how it had fared with 
the force of fourteen hundred men who were to 
cross the Mississippi, and make a simultaneous 
attack on the opposite shore. All had gone badly 
with them. There was a low stage of water, and 
eight hours had been lost in dragging boats through 
a canal, dug by the troops from Lake Borgne to the 
Mississippi, and launching ttiem into the river. 
Instead of fourteen hundred men, scarcely five hun- 
dred reached the other shore, and, instead of get- 
ting there early in the evening of January seventh, 
it was daybreak on January the eighth before they 
stood upon the bank, and they had been carried by 
the swift stream a mile and a half below the point 
at which they were to have landed. 

Pakenham heard the story of this mishap, but he 
could not rectify it. Like General Jackson he 
thought of the other side of the river with much 
apprehension ; but he had done all that was possi- 
ble for it, and he rode away toward the front. He 
was afterward blamed for not awaiting the result 
of the attack on the western bank of the river, 
before beginning the assault on General Jackson's 
Lines, inasmuch as the issue of the impending bat- 
tle would perhaps wholly depend on the success or 
failure of the attack on General Morgan's works. 

At four o'clock in the morning, the main body of 



230 General Andrew Jackson. 

the British army was alread}^ drawn up in three 
principal columns of attack. On the high road near 
the river and parallel with the levee stood a column 
of light troops, one thousand in number, under Colo- 
nel Rennie, who were to attack the strong works 
defending the road. Next to them, two hundred 
yards distant, was the regiment of praying High- 
landers, as they were called, under the command of 
Colonel Dale, who were to go to the assistance of 
Colonel Rennie if he should require assistance. All 
these troops were subject to the orders of General 
Keane, who commanded in that part of the field. 
Four or five hundred yards beyond the Highlanders 
was the main column, three thousand strong, under 
General Gibbs, who were to assail the Lines where 
they were supposed to be weakest. This column was 
to be headed by an Irish regiment, the Forty-fourth, 
carrying fascines to fill the ditch, and ladders upon 
which to mount the breastwork. Beyond them and 
close to the Cypress Swamp was a regiment of 
colored troops from the West Indies. There were 
various other corps and detachments, some of which 
were lost in the dense darkness of that foggy morn- 
ing and did not succeed in reaching their posts. A 
mile in the rear was the reserve column, consisting 
of two newly arrived regiments, under General 
Lambert, who had accompanied them. Altogether, 
there were about eight thousand British troops 
under arms that morning in front of General Jack- 
son's Lines which were defended by three thousand 
two hundred men. 

The British troops were not in good spirits. Being 
veterans, they had discovered that the Americans 



Ready for the Battle. 231 

were handled by a commander who thoroughly 
understood his business. They had also learned 
what deadly marksmen the Americans were, with 
cannons as well as with rifles. In all their battles, 
they had never before encountered such destructive 
fire. So deep was the impression which their 
encounters with the Americans had made upon them 
that Colonel Mullens, of the "Forty -fourth regiment, 
that had been detailed to carry the fascines and 
scaling ladders at the head of Gibbs's column, said : 
** My regiment has been ordered to execution. 
Their dead bodies are to be used as a bridge for the 
rest of the army to march over." The lion-like 
Colonel Dale, of the praying Highlanders, on being 
asked " what he thought of it," when news of the 
delay of the attack on the western bank of the river 
was spoken of by the physician of the regiment, 
simply handed the physician his watch and a letter 
and said : " Give these to my wife ; I shall die at 
the head of my regiment." But General Paken- 
ham did not share these feelings. He and many of 
his troops had assisted in driving the French out of 
the Spanish Peninsula. They had never been 
defeated. It was inconceivable to him that such 
troops could be beaten by a horde of American 
militia, commanded by a general whose name was 
unknown to the military circles of Europe. He had 
his lesson to learn, and it was written for him in the 
blood of brave men, including his own. 

The peculiar darkness of the morning hindered 
every operation of the British troops and caused 
some serious errors, delays and omissions. As late as 
six o'clock. General Pakenham received intelligence 



232 General Aiidrczv Jackson. 

that the fascines and ladders had not been taken to 
the head of the main column. He sent an order to 
rectify the error; but when the rocket pierced the 
fog at six o'clock, which was the signal to begin the 
assault, he was not absolutely certain that the regi- 
ment assigned to this duty had reached its post. But 
the signal had been giyen ; daylight was just begin- 
ning to pervade the mist, and the British columns 
were slowly advancing. 

At length the heavy fog which had covered the 
Delta began to yield to the influence of the rising 
sun. It lifted a little here and there, then settled 
down again as densely as before, then broke into 
huge masses, betw^een which distant objects could 
be discerned. Hundreds of the American troops 
had been peering into the mist and straining their 
ears to catch any unusual sound. General Jackson 
had cast many a look beyond the Lines. Adair had 
thrust his head above the parapet and gazed. Car- 
roll and Coffee had taken their turn, but seen noth- 
ing. About seven o'clock. Lieutenant Spotts of 
Battery No. 6, nearest the Cypress Swamp, dis- 
cerned through a rift in the fog, but only for a 
moment, General Gibbs's massive column of red- 
coats. They seemed far away and as near to the 
Swamp as men could safely march. The thunder 
of Lieutenant Spotts's great gun terminated the sus- 
pense in every part of the scene of operations and on 
both sides of the river. It informed every man in 
both armies that the hour had come. 

The mist closed again and the gun was silent. 
General Jackson walked along the Lines toward the 
point that seemed directly menaced, speaking to 



Ready for the Battle, 



233 



each corps as he passed: -Don't waste jour 
ammunition. See that every shot tells. Let us 
finish the business to-day." Not a word was spoken 
in reply, for the order imposing absolute silence was 
still in force. Soon the fog, as the way of the fog is 
in that region, broke into dissolving masses and sud- 
denly rolled away, disclosing to the view of the 
Americans the whole plain, apparently covered 
with advancing troops, and affording to the sharp- 
shooters of the backwoods, for the third time, the 
spectacle of a splendid military pageant moving 
toward their position. At this moment the band 
of the Battalion d'Orleans struck up '* Yankee 
Doodle," changing in due course to other patriotic 
airs, and never ceased to play until the main action 
closed. 

The heavy column of General Gibbs was march- 
ing with perfect steadiness toward the Lines at a 
distance of perhaps three-quarters of a mile. No 
one who has seen a heavy column of British 
troops advancing to an attack can forget the 
majesty of its appearance or the impression it gave 
him of seemingly irresistible power. Christopher 
North spoke truly when he said that the spectacle 
of a British army, in the full panoply of war, 
advancing upon its foes, presented a symbol '* of the 
right hand of the power of God." Let us ^\nq due 
recognition to brave men. 

As the magnificent column of General Gibbs 
came steadily on, the Americans awaited it in 
silence. They saw that it was composed of gallant 
and determined men, but they did not fear its onset. 
They keenly felt that the coming battle was to be 



li 



234 



General Andrew Jackson, 



decisive of the campaign. They had reasonable faith 
in themselves ; they had absolute faith in their 
commander, and they welcomed the imminent 
deadly struggle with grim exultation. They knew 
they would have terrible work to do. They did it. 



The Battle of New Orlemts. 235 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. 

When General Gibbs's column came within half 
a mile of the American Lines, the three batteries 
furthest from the river opened fire upon it — at first, 
with little effect ; but, as the column came nearer, 
throwing- balls into the very midst of it, and bring- 
ing it more than once to a temporary halt. As it 
came still nearer, the huge cannon balls, as an eye- 
witness reported, cut great lanes in the column, 
tossed men into the air and hurled them to the right 
and left. But it still advanced with little pause and 
no haste, until it came within range of the sharp- 
shooters of Tennessee and Kentucky, massed at the 
very spot toward which it was directing its march. 
Including Adair's Kentuckians, there were four 
lines of riflemen, one behind the other, most of them 
men accustomed from boyhood to depend in part 
for their subsistence and their safety upon the 
accuracy of their aim and the rapidity of their fire. 
At the right moment, when the enemy were within 
two hundred yards, Carroll gave the word '' Fire !" 
and at the same moment, as it chanced, Commodore 
Patterson, from the other side of the river, opened 
fire with a portion of his artillery. 

The discharge of the small arms from this part of 
the Lines was as steady, as continuous and as deadly 
as it could have been from a row of accuratel}^ 
pointed Gatling guns, and its effect upon the heavy 



236 General Aiid7'ew Jackson. 



column of the British was most murderous. Never- 
theless, it continued its steady, unflinching, even- 
paced approach, with General Gibbs at its head, 
until the mounted officers in advance caught sight 
of the wide ditch in front of the American works. 
The fascines and ladders were nowhere to be seen. 
" Where are the Forty-fourth ?" cried an officer. 
'' If we get to the ditch," he said to his general, " we 
have no means of crossing !" At this moment Gen- 
eral Gibbs shouted : "Here come the Forty-fourth !" 
and a portion of that regiment really was struggling 
along with ladders and fascines. Relieved by the 
shout of their commanding general, the column still 
pressed on, until the foremost rank was within one 
hundred yards of the ditch. 

But mortal men could do no more ! And there 
really appeared no motive for going forward, for 
there was no sign visible to the troops of an 
adequate supply of the means of getting over the 
ditch, and still less of scaling the Avorks behind it. 
Every mounted officer of the advancing column 
had fallen except the general commanding it. One- 
half the troops were disabled, and the rest were 
falling fast with every step they took. The front 
ranks hesitated, halted, and thus threw the column 
into disorder. General Gibbs ordered them with 
passionate earnestness to re-form, but it was 
manifestly impossible. To the American riflemen, 
as one of them afterward said, the column 
appeared to reel like a red ship in a stormy sea. 
Soon it broke to pieces, and the men ran head- 
long to the rear, many of them excusing themselves 



The Battle of New Orleans. 237 




by saying" that not a ladder or fascine had been 
brought to the front. 

General Pakenham rode up and cried : " For 
shame! Recollect that you are British soldiers! 
This is the road you ought to take," pointing to the 
American Lines. He soon came up to General 
Gibbs, who said to him : '' 1 am sorry to have to 
report to you that the troops will not obey me. 
They will not follow me." 

Upon hearing this, General Pakenham took off 
his hat, rode to the front into the worst of the fire, 
urging on the troops by orders, entreaties and 
gesticulations. A ball shattered his right arm 
while it was raised aloft, and it fell to his side. The 
next moment his horse was killed. One of his 
aids dismounted from his pony, upon which Paken- 
ham, as if unconscious of his broken arm, mounted 
again and followed the column, which was still in 
retreat, beseeching them to halt and re-form. 
While he was so doing, a handful of gallant Brit- 
ish troops made their way to the ditch, plunged 
across it, and fell as they were striving to climb the 
slippery breastwork. 

A second time the main column advanced, Gibbs 
on its right, Pakenham on the left, seemingly 
still unconscious of his broken arm. They 
marched at a quicker step than before. As they 
came within range, a thirty-two pounder, loaded 
to the muzzle with balls and scraps of iron, 
poured its contents into the very head of the 
column, disabling, as it was afterward estimated, 
two hundred men. .The American riflemen con- 
tinued their fire with the same deadly effect as 



238 General A^idrezv Jackso7i. 



before. Pakenham turned to one of his aids and 
said : '' Order up the reserve !" then, catching sight 
of the praying Highlanders, he cried out, waving 
his hat with his left hand : '' Hurrah ! Brave High- 
landers !" 

He never spoke again. At that moment a dis- 
charge of grape-shot struck the group of officers by 
whom he was surrounded. One of the shots gave 
him a bad wound in the thigh and killed his horse. 
Captain McDougal caught his general in his arms, 
drew him away from the dying animal, and was 
supporting his head, as he lay upon the ground, 
when he was wounded for the third time, and was 
happily deprived of consciousness. They carried 
him to the rear, placed him under an old live oak- 
tree, which was standing a few years ago, and there 
in a few minutes he breathed his last. A minute or 
two after the fall of Pakenham, Gibbs was mortally 
wounded, and, almost at the same time, General 
Keane was wounded twice, although not mortally. 
The great column of three thousand men, after 
twice advancing to the charge, disappeared from 
view, and the Highlanders, who had marched with 
solid step to their relief, stood helpless in front of 
the American Lines until five hundred and forty- 
four of their number had fallen. No braver or bet- 
ter men ever stepped upon a battlefield, or fell 
before the fire of a foe. 

The attack at other parts of the line fared no 
better. Colonel Rennie, posted on the river road, 
did indeed capture by the headlong rapidity of his 
assault, the outlying redoubt, but held it only for a 
moment. Three brave men, Colonel Rennie, 



^The Battle of New Or leans. 239 

Captain Henry and Major King, reached the 
summit of the rampart close to the river, and 
Rennie cried: "Hurrah, boys, the day is ours!" 
At that instant, the three heroes fell dead into the 
ditch below. Their troops were instantly driven 
from the redoubt, and the whole British army 
sought safety, some in flight, and more by hiding 
wherever there was a chance of shelter. 

Of all that host of valiant men only one, Lieuten- 
ant Lavack, got over the top of the American para- 
pet unwounded, though with two bullet-holes in his 
cap. Another officer of the main column, Major 
Wilkinson, fell mortally wounded upon the summit. 
The American troops, admiring his courage, carried 
him tenderly to the rear, where Major Smiley, of 
the Kentucky reserve, said to him : 

" Bear up, my dear fellow ; you are too brave a 
man to die." 

"• From my heart I thank you," said the dying 
hero. " It is all over with me. You can render me 
a service ; it is to communicate to my commander 
that I fell on your rampart, and died like a soldier 
and a true Englishman." 

Lieutenant Lavack was taken alive and unharmed. 
When he found himself a prisoner, he looked behind 
him, wondering the troops had not followed. " But," 
as he used to say, in telling the story, " the two lead- 
ing regiments had vanished as if the earth had 
opened and swallowed them up." Lieutenant 
Lavack was the hero of the hour, and the whole 
army afterward vied with one another in doing him 
honor. 

An equally interesting and more touching event 




240 General Andrew Jackson. 

occurred at the other end of the Lines, near the 
river. As Colonel Rennie's column advanced to the 
attack, their bugler, a boy of fourteen or fifteen, 
climbing a small tree within two hundred yards of ^| 
the American lines, straddled a limb and continued f 
to blow the charge with all his power. '* There he 
remained," says Major Latour, in his history of the 
campaign,* "during the whole action, whilst the^ 
cannon-balls and bullets plowed the ground around 
him, killed scores of men, and tore even the branches 
of the tree in which he sat. Above the thunder of 
the artillery, the rattling fire of the musketry, and 
all the din and uproar of the strife, the shrill blast of 
the little bugler could be heard, and even when his 
companions had fallen back and retreated from the 
field, he continued true to his duty, and blew the 
charges with undiminished vigor. At last, when the 
British had entirely abandoned the ground, an 
American soldier, passing from the Lines, captured 
the little bugler and brought him into camp, where 
he was greatly astonished when some of the enthus- 
iastic Creoles, who had observed his gallantry, 
actually embraced him, and officers and men vied 
with each other in acts of kindness to so gallant a 
little soldier." 

What a singular — what an incomprehensible 
creature is man, in whose heart are intimately 
mingled the most terrible passions for vengeance 
and destruction with the manliest admiration of his 
foemen's valor and the tenderest sympathy for those 
whom he has slain in the rage of battle ! 

* Jackson and New Orleans. 



1^ 



The Battle of New Orleans, 241 

The battle of New Orleans lasted twenty-five 
minutes. One-half of the American army did not 
fire a shot, for the battle was fought at the two ends 
of the line. During that brief period seven hun- 
dred British troops were killed, fourteen hundred 
were wounded, and five hundred were taken prison- 
ers, or were soon to be taken. On the American 
side the loss was eight killed and thirteen wounded. 
Two men were killed in repulsing the column of 
General Gibbs ; two in the redoubt on the high- 
road ; four in the swamps, pursuing the colored 
troops. 

When General Jackson looked over the Lines 
after the smoke had cleared away, he saw the space 
in front of Carroll's position, for the distance of two 
hundred yards, apparently covered with fallen sol- 
diers. The course by which the Gibbs column had 
marched, resembled a broad red streak, so closely 
did the red-coated slain lie together. In conversing 
upon that glorious and terrible hour. General Jack- 
son would say : 

" 1 never had so grand and awful an idea of the 
resurrection as on that day. After the smoke of the 
battle had cleared off somewhat, 1 saw in the dis- 
tance more than five hundred Britons emerging 
from the heaps of their dead comrades, rising up all 
over the plain, and still more distinctly visible as the 
field became clearer, coming forward and surren- 
dering as prisoners of war to our soldiers. They had 
fallen at our first fire upon them, without having 
received so much as a scratch, and lay prostrate as 
if dead until the close of the action." 

The scene had every element of horror that can 



242 General Andrew Jackson. 

be conceived. Notwithstanding the brillianc}^ and 
importance of the victory, the prevailing sentiment 
among the American troops, who were as generous 
and sympathetic as they were patriotic and brave, 
during that day and the next, had in it as much of 
compassion as of exultation. 

But the day was not yet won. By the time 
General Jackson had walked along the line congrat- 
ulating the troops upon their success, he began to 
look across the river with some anxiety. He 
mounted the breastwork near the levee, with 
General Adair by his side, and soon discovered that 
a British column on the opposite shore was advanc- 
ing vigorously to the attack of General Morgan. 
He called for three cheers for the American soldiers. 
While his men were cheering, he saw Morgan's 
troops abandon their works, and their retreat drew 
after them the entire force on that side of the river. 
In other circumstances this mishap might have been 
fatal, but the strength of the British expedition was 
broken. General Lambert, upon whom the com- 
mand of the English had devolved, clearly perceived 
that it would be impossible for him to hold the 
western bank of the river, and on the following day 
he withdrew the troops. Then General Jackson 
felt a reasonable confidence that he had defended 
New Orleans. He said to his staff: 

" They may try it again, but my private opinion 
is they will not ; and if they do, we shall be able to 
give a good account of ourselves." 

For a time the daring general was all but resolved 
to take the offensive, and '' drive the British into the 
sea;" but on reflection he concluded "to let well 



The Battle of New Oi^- leans, 243 

enough alone," and quietly but vigilantly awaited 
developments. 

Ten days later, General Jackson and his staff, 
from the upper story of their headquarters, were 
spying the English position three miles below. 
Nothing seemed changed. But when the veteran 
General Humbert was handed the spyglass and 
asked his opinion, he looked at the British camp, 
and said : *' TJieyre gone I'' ** How do you know ?" 
asked General Jackson. Humbert pointed to a crow 
that was flying so close to one of the supposed 
sentinels as to show that it was only a dummy, and 
not well enough made to deceive even a crow. And 
so it proved. They were gone, leaving eighty 
wounded men, who could not be moved, to ** the 
humanity of the American commander." These 
men were all most tenderly cared for, as well by 
the American soldiers as by the families of New 
Orleans. 

Upon returning from a visit to the abandoned 
British camp. General Jackson prepared to lead his 
victorious army back in triumph to the city they 
had defended. First of all, he asked Abbe Dubourg, 
the head of the Roman Catholic clergy in Louisiana, 
to celebrate a public thanksgiving in the cathedral, 
'' in token of the great assistance we have received 
from the Ruler of events, and of our humble sense 
of it.'' He wrote numberless letters, addresses and 
reports, in which the services of every corps, and 
of every man who had distinguished himself, were 
specially noticed. He concluded his address to the 
army with these words : 

" This splendid campaign will be considered as 



244 General Andrew Jackson. 



entitling every man who has served in it to the 
salutation of his brother-in-arms." 

On the morning of January 21, this glowing 
address was read to the army, a competent reader 
being designated for every regiment. Then the " 
general led the troops back to the city, where the 
entire population received them with heartfelt 
acclamations. Two days later occurred the solemn 
service of thanksgiving at the cathedral, with every 
circumstance which could enhance the festal and 
grateful joy of the occasion. In the evening the 
city was illuminated. For once, discipline was 
relaxed, while both soldiers and people gave them- 
selves wholly up to conviviality. 

Meanwhile the people of the United States were 
wrought up to a high pitch of anxiety with regard 
to the struggle at New Orleans. The slow mails of 
that period carried the news of Jackson's night 
attack of December 23 ; then of the repulse of the 
British on January first, accompanied by the news 
of the arrival of General Pakenham with greatly 
overstated reinforcements. The hopeful ones 
believed that Old Hickory would defend the city 
and defeat the invaders ; the desponding ones felt 
sure that the British force was irresistible, and that 
it would not only drive Jackson from his defenses, 
but conquer the whole western country. At last, 
on February 5, 1815, twenty-eight days after the 
battle which irretrievably shattered the power of 
the British expedition, The National Intelligencer, of 
Washington, gave the great and joy-giving news 
under the heading, in its largest type : 






The Battle of Neiv Oideans, 245 



"ALMOST INCREDIBLE VICTORY!" 

Never before had an Administration been so 
gloriously relieved from such an agony of suspense, 
or the American people so deeply stirred with 
gratitude and exultation. The name of Andrew 
Jackson spontaneously became a beloved household 
word to the remotest bounds of the Union, and the 
people rejoiced all over the land with exceeding 
great joy. When the great news crossed the Atlan- 
tic, Americans in Europe rejoiced even more than 
Americans at home. They could once more hold 
up their heads with national pride. " Now," said 
Henry Clay, when the news reached the negotiators 
of peace at Ghent — '* now I can go to England with- 
out mortification." 

In his account of General Jackson's Southwestern 
Campaign, Mr. Adams disparages the importance 
of the victory at New Orleans, while in other por- 
tions of his history he unconsciously gives ample evi- 
dence of its immeasurable value to the country. He 
informs us that a malignant and powerful movement 
was on foot in the Eastern States to dissolve the 
Union and form a New England Confederacy ; that 
in the belief that the British had captured New 
Orleans, the New England Commissioners were on 
the way to Washington to impose their terms on^^^^^,..^ 
the discredited and helpless Government. Under \ 
date of January 23, 1815, Mr. Adams gives a letter I 
to a co-conspirator from Timothy Pickering, a few ' 
years before a Senator of the United States from 
Massachusetts, and then one of the leaders of the 



246 Gene7^al Andreiv Jackson, 



disunion party, in which Mr. Pickering exultingly 
says : * 

" If the British succeed in their expedition against New 
Orleans — and if they have tolerable leaders, I see no reason to 
doubt of their success— I shall consider the Union as severed. 
This consequence I deem inevitable. I do not expect to see a 
single Representative in the next Congress from the Western 
States." 

p Lord Castlereagh, in discussing American affairs 
' with the King of France several weeks before Mr. 

Pickering wrote his letter, is reported to have 

said : f 

"Sire, I expect that at this time most of the large seaport towns 
in America are laid in ashes — that we are in possession of New 
Orleans, and have command of all the waters of the Mississippi 
and the lakes ; so that the Americans are now little better than 
j prisoners at large in their own country." 

Pickering and Castlereagh, and a great deal more 
in Mr. Adams's eighth volume, show what incom- 
putable consequences were involved in the result 
at New Orleans, so far as human prescience 
could forecast them. Mr. Adams relates that as 
the emissaries of disunion were on their way to 
Washington, they were brought to a halt by the 
news of General Jackson's success at New Orleans. 
In truth, they instinctively knew that their schemes 
were frustrated by this unexampled victory, 
and concealing their nefarious intentions as well as 
they could, they sneaked back home amid the 
enthusiastic rejoicings of a victorious and united 
people. 

* Adams, VIII, 300. t Parton I, 566. 



W 



The Battle of Nezv Orleans. 247 



Mr. Adams repeatedly sneers at General Jack- 
son's generalship, and indulges in much censure 
and disparagement of his defense of New Orleans. 
The most competent authorities differ with Mr. 
Adams. 

" The Subaltern," who wrote so graphically the 
history of the British expedition against New 
Orleans, and lived to be ninety-one years of age, in 
1885 (three years before his death) wrote to his friend 
General James Grant Wilson of New York, about 
Jackson's New Orleans campaign, in these words: 

When I look back upon the means which General 
Jackson adopted to cover New Orleans, and remem- 
ber the material of which his army was composed, 
I cannot but regard his management of that cam- 
paign as one of the most masterly of which history 
makes mention. His night attack on our advanced 
guard was as bold a stroke as ever was struck. It 
really paralyzed all our future operations, for though 
unsuccessful it taught us to hold our enemy in respect, 
and in all future movements to act with an excess 
of caution. The use also which he made of the 
river was admirable. Indeed, I am inclined to think 
that to him the generals who came after him were 
indebted for the perception of the great advantages 
to which the command of rivers may be turned. 
And do not let us forget that he had little else to 
oppose to Wellington's veterans fresh from their 
triumphs in Spain and the south of France, except 
raw levies. Altogether I think of Jackson as, next 
to Washington, the greatest general America has 
produced.' 



248 General Andrew Jackson, 



CHAPTER XXV. 

AFTER THE BATTLE — GENERAL JACKSON ARRESTS A 
JUDGE — THE JUDGE FINES GENERAL JACKSON — 
THE GENERAL PAYS THE FINE — UNPRE- 
CEDENTED HONORS. 

When the battle of New Orleans was fought on 
January 8, 181 5, peace had been concluded at Ghent 
between Great Britain and the United States, fifteen 
days. The ship that bore the glad tidings was still 
on the ocean. It did not seem probable that so 
powerful an armament as the British expedition would 
abandon the attempt against the Gulf coast after 
one failure. In the mind of General Jackson the 
question was where the next blow would fall ; and 
as he wrote to the Secretary of War, he was " but 
too sensible that the moment when the enemy is 
opposing us is not the most proper to provide for 
them." 

Therefore, after the festivities at New Orleans on 
January 21, military duty was resumed, and every- 
thing went on as before the departure of the hostile 
army. Martial law was maintained in all its incon- 
venient rigor. The Lines were still manned by day 
and by night. The wet and unhealthy camp behind 
the Lines still consigned many men every day to 
the hospital and some to the grave. The situation 
was alleviated as far as possible, and the incredible 
hardships were borne without complaint, as belong- 
ing to warfare. 



After the Battle. 249 



So passed twenty-nine days after the flight of the 
enemy. Then Edward Livingston, who had been 
arranging the exchange of prisoners, returned to the 
city, bringing news, certain enough for most pur- 
poses, but indirect and unofficial, that the treaty of 
peace had been signed at Ghent, fifty-seven days 
before. The homesick army and the people of the 
city were thrown into an ecstasy of excitement. 
Unhappily, the package which the British admiral 
had received from Europe contained only a news- 
paper announcement of the intelligence, which 
neither commander could practically regard. Jack- 
son at once published an address to the troops, 
explaining the impossibility of his accepting or act- 
ing upon a newspaper paragraph, and exhorting 
them to a patient continuance in duty for a little 
while longer. 

The address did nothing to soothe the swelling 
discontent, to which the press soon gave strong 
expression. The business men detained in service 
were in a fever of impatience to sell their cotton 
and sugar and get them loaded on board the depart- 
ing ships. The legislature sought in various ways 
to interfere. The French consul, attempting to 
shield and set free non-naturalized Frenchmen, Gen- 
eral Jackson ordered him out of the city, not to 
return until the news of peace was officially pub- 
lished. He also ordered away all Frenchmen who 
were not citizens of the United States. Against 
this order Mr. Louis Louaillier, a distinguished and 
wealthy member of the legislature, published an 
able article in one of the newspapers. General 
Jackson sent an officer and a file of soldiers to arrest 



250 General Afidrew Jackson. 



and consign to prison the offending member. Mr. 
Louaillier's counsel applied to Judge Dominick A. 
Hall, of the United States District Court, for a 
writ of habeas corpus in his behalf. The judge 
granted the petition. General Jackson replied by 
the loUowing order : 

" New Orleans, March 5, 181 5. 
Seven o'clock, p. m. 
" To Colonel Arbuckle, Headquarters Seventh Military Dis' 
trict : 
" Having received proof that Dominick A. Hall has been aid- 
ing and abetting and exciting mutiny within my camp, you 
will forthwith order a detachment to arrest and confine him, 
and report to me as soon as arrested. You will be vigilant; 
the agents of our enemy are more numerous than was expected. 
You will be guarded against escapes. 

A, Jackson, 
" Major-General Commanding. 
" Dr. William E. Butler is ordered to accompany the detach- 
ment and point out the man. 

A. Jackson, 
" Major-General Commanding." 

An hour after the reception of this order, Colonel 
Arbuckle obeyed it, and that very night Judge Hall 
and Louis Louaillier were prisoners in the same room 
at the barracks. Other persons of less importance 
were also arrested for conduct tending to excite 
insubordination. A few days after. General Jack- 
son caused Judge Hall to be conducted by " a dis- 
creet non-commissioned officer and four men " of a 
cavalry troop, beyond the lines of General Carroll's 
command and there '* set at libert}^" 

The next day, March 13, sixty-four days after 
the battle of the 8th of January, arrived from Wash- 



After the Battle. 251 



ington a packet giving official information of the 
treaty of peace and the cessation of hostilities. The 
glorious news was instantly published by the general 
officially^ and with it he proclaimed a full pardon and 
immediate release of all persons who had offended 
against martial law. The next day he dismissed the 
volunteers of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and 
Louisiana, with an eloquent address of Jacksonian 
warmth and force. 

Martial law having been abrogated, and the civil 
law having resumed its prerogatives, Judge Hall 
seized upon the occasion to give a signal proof of his 
judicial power. He summoned General Jackson to 
court to answer for his disregard of the writ of 
habeas corpus. On the appointed day the general 
appeared in court, attended by a numerous crowd, 
who were strongly disposed to disturb the decorum 
of the proceedings. He stood upon a bench and 
reminded them of the duty and respect owed by 
all citizens to a court of justice. He declined to 
apologize to the court or to explain or defend his 
conduct. He told the judge that in a paper pre- 
sented the day before by his counsel he had given a 
full explanation of the reasons for his rejection of the 
writ and the arrest of the judge. The court had 
refused to receive the paper, and he had no other 
defense to present. 

" Under the circumstances," said he, " I appear 
before you to receive the sentence of the court, hav- 
ing nothing further in my defense to offer." 

Here was the typical American hero, statesman 
and citizen. In war, a lion ; in policy, a sage ; in 
peace, obedient to the law. It would be gratifying 



252 General Andrew Jackson. 



to be able to add that he was as tractable in disposi- 
tion as Franklin, and as considerate as Washington 
in dealing with his fellow-citizens. 

By a very little forbearance and concession on 
the part of General Jackson, the whole trouble 
might have been avoided. It should be remem- 
bered, however, that it is much easier for a person 
in good health, writing of these affairs under com- 
fortable circumstances, to exercise a spirit of for- 
bearance and concession, than it was for a sick com- 
mander-in-chief, racked with pain, harassed with 
anxiety and irritated by numberless annoyances, to 
subordinate his convictions of military duty to the 
amenities of civil life. 

The judgment of the court was that '* Major-Gen- 
eral Andrew Jackson do pay a fine of one thousand 
dollars to the United States." He was borne back 
in triumph to his headquarters, the horses being 
removed from the carriage. Upon reaching his 
desk he sent back an aide-de-camp with a check 
for the amount of his fine, and there the matter 
ended for the time. President Madison, who was a 
weak and irresolute man, did not approve General 
Jackson's robust proceedings, and requested him to 
" observe a conciliatory deportment " toward the 
Legislature and people of Louisiana. The general 
explained to the Administration his reasons both for 
proclaiming and for maintaining martial law, to 
which no formal reply was made, and the disagree- 
able episode was soon forgotten in the indescribable 
joy and exultation of the time. 

Nothing now remained to be done but to settle 
the pecuniary account of the defense. General 



After the Battle, 253 



Jackson paid for the immortal cotton bales at six 
cents a pound, net price of cotton on the day the 
bales had been taken from the vessel and placed in 
the Lines. Mrs. Jackson arrived with their little 
adopted son, and the ladies of New Orleans made 
much of both. 

General Jackson had a triumphal welcome home 
from almost every organized body in Western 
Tennessee. A procession of students, soldiers and 
citizens met him on his approach to Nashville, 
where, in the public square and in the court-house, 
he had an overwhelming reception, to which he 
responded with his usual simplicity and tact. His 
neighbors and friends met him near the Hermitage, 
to which he now returned after an absence of 
twenty-one months, during which he had broken 
forever the power of the Creek Indians, prepared 
the way for the acquisition of Florida, and defended 
the Gulf coast against the most formidable military 
and naval expedition which has ever approached 
the shores of the United States with hostile intent. 

All the world could appreciate the brilliancy of 
the late campaign ; but to Tennessee General Jack- 
son had rendered a service so peculiar that it could 
be realized in all its extent only by her own 
yeomen, who now, for the first time since the set- 
tlement of the country, could sleep in absolute 
security against the savages whom they had 
displaced. Nothing could ever long disturb or 
seriously diminish the affection they felt for their 
heroic benefactor. It was simply true, as was often 
said in Tennessee, that " the popularity of Andrew 
Jackson could stand anything." This overwhelm- 



2 54 General Andrew Jackson. 



ing popularity spread from Tennessee throughout 
the Union. AH the preceding failures of the war 
seemed but to enhance the luster of its closing 
achievement, which restored the Nation's mortified 
self-respect and healed its wounded self-love. The 
masses of the people never forgot Old Hickory's 
transcendant services at New Orleans. Years after- 
wards, when he was a candidate for the Presidency, 
the thrilling shout " Hurrah for Jackson!" coming 
hot from their hearts, attested their appreciation of 
the work he did for his country in that memorable 
campaign. 

After four months' rest at the Hermitage, 
General Jackson made a journey to Washington. 
The army had now been reduced to ten thousand 
men, commanded by two major-generals — Jacob 
Brown, in the northern division, and Andrew Jack- 
son, in the southern division — both of whom had 
entered the army during the late war from the 
militia service. Jackson's visit to Washington on 
this occasion was in obedience to an order from the 
Secretary of War, the ostensible object being to 
arrange the distribution of the southern division of 
the army, 

Perhaps the real object was to afford the 
victorious general a national triumph, and the 
whole journey did indeed resemble a triumphal 
progress. Escorts of mounted men went out to 
meet him from every large town, and accompanied 
him far beyond its borders. At Lynchburg in 
Virginia there was a grand banquet of three 
hundred persons, one of whom was the ex- President, 
Thomas Jefferson, who toasted the Defenders of 



After the Battle. 255 

New Orleans in these words: ** Honor and grat- 
itude to those who have filled up the measure of 
their country's honor." General Jackson volun- 
teered a toast : " James Monroe, late Secretary of 
War." It was a well-chosen sentiment for him to 
offer, for Mr. Monroe had pledged his whole estate 
in dispatching the two boat-loads of muskets, the 
arrival of a portion of which had made it possible 
to arm in time the volunteers from Tennessee. It 
was signficant also, because James Monroe was the 
Democratic candidate for the Presidency, and the 
election was to take place in a few months. 

At the city of Washington, General Jackson was 
an unparalleled lion. He seems to have won all 
hearts by the unexpected gentleness of his manners, 
and the quiet dignity of his bearing. 

Returning homeward early in 18 16, he made an 
extensive tour among the Indian tribes, the Creeks, 
Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws, holding 
treaties here and there, quieting some claims by 
money, others by negotiation. He had great suc- 
cess in dealing with Indians, particularly at this 
time, when the prestige of recent victory was added 
to the authority of his rank. In this journey he 
opened a vast extent of country to pioneers who 
were anxiously waiting to enter it. Again the sa}^- 
ing arose thoughout the State that General Jackson 
never returned home without having done some 
great thing for Tennessee. 

To complete his felicity, he was now enabled by 
his salary as major-general to pay off the last of his 
debts and build a modest house of brick for the 
gratification of his wife. For his own part, he had 



256 General Andrew Jackson. 

been well content with his double log-cabin, for as 
yet he had known in his whole life no other kind of 
home. About this time, too, his wife having 
become a member of the Presbyterian church, he 
built for her an exceedingly small brick church 
on the Hermitage farm. The general never failed 
in his attendance at this little church, and it was 
at his house that the clergymen were usually enter- 
tained. General Jackson always treated clergymen 
with respect. His own reverent nature would incline 
him to do so ; it gratified Mrs. Jackson to have him 
extend the most generous hospitality to her favor- 
ite guests ; and he never forgot his revered 
mother's ardent desire that he himself should become 
a minister of the Gospel. 

Peter Cartwright, the noted pioneer preacher, 
relates an anecdote that is characteristic both of him- 
self and General Jackson. Cartwright was in the 
habit of preaching very plainly, without regard to 
the official or social dignity of any of his hearers. 
His motto was : '' Hew to the line, let the chips fly 
in whose face they will." On a certain occasion he 
was to preach in a church in Nashville. The pastor 
of the church was a time-serving sycophant, who 
dreaded the Reverend Peter's homespun rhetoric 
and plainness of Gospel inculcations. Just as 
Cartwright was about to begin his sermon, he felt 
some one pull his coat, and heard his fastidious and 
nervous brother whisper : '* General Jackson has 
come in !" The hiss of the whisper was admonitory, 
and plainly said: " Now, Cartwright, be on your 
good behavior !" Indignant at what he considered 
an exhibition of unmanly sycophancy on the part of 



After the Battle. 257 

** An x\mbassador of Christ," the old pulpit hero 
turned to the congregation and roared out : ** Who 
is General Jackson ? If he don't get his soul con- 
verted, God will damn him as quick as he would a 
Guinea negro !" 

The effect of this outburst was overwhelming, with 
respect to everybody except General Jackson, who 
stood leaning against a post, in plain view from the 
pulpit, with a smile of amusement playing over his 
grim countenance. When church was over, the 
fastidious pastor predicted that '' General Jackson 
would chastise the preacher for his insolence." On 
the contrary, the next day in Nashville the general 
advanced to meet Cartwright in the street, told him 
that he was a man after his own heart, that he highly 
approved his independence, and that " a minister of 
Jesus Christ ought to love everybody and fear no 
mortal man." The soldier of the United States and 
the soldier of Christ had many traits in common, 
and they became fast friends for life. 



I- 



258 General Andrew Jackson. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

POLITICAL MANCEUVERING — INDIAN TROUBLES IN 
FLORIDA — GENERAL JACKSON AGAIN IN 

THE FIELD. 

During the winter of 1816-17, General Jackson 
had a very interesting and elevated correspondence 
with James Monroe, who had triumphed in the 
recent Presidential election. He gave the incoming 
President much good advice ; urging him, among 
other things, to rise superior to party feelings in the 
administration of the government. Mr. Monroe 
replied in the same lofty strain, and was able to live 
up to it during his whole Administration. This 
correspondence had a powerful influence on the 
fortunes of General Jackson. 

In March, 18 17, after Henry Clay had declined 
the War Department, Mr. Monroe was about to 
nominate Andrew Jackson for the same post, when 
he received from the general a private request that 
he would refrain from doing so. \ 

As commander of the southern division of the 
army. General Jackson was chiefly occupied with 
Indian affairs. He had no very serious trouble with 
the savages of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia^ 
for they were clearly within his jurisdiction, and 
also within his reach. As the year 1817 went on, 
his attention, and that of the whole country, Avas 
gradually drawn to the Spanish province of Florida^ 
thinly inhabited, weakly governed, and furnishing 



Indian Troubles in Florida, 259 

unequaled opportunities for irregular enterprise. 
Its untrodden wilds and everglades became the 
refuge of runaway slaves, discontented Seminoles 
and hostile Creeks who had refused assent to the 
treaty of Fort Jackson. The English Colonel Nich- 
ols reappeared there and gave fallacious hopes to 
his late defeated allies. Adventurers from other 
lands resorted thither upon various pretexts, and the 
Spanish governor was wholly unequal to the repres- 
sion of disorder in a province which is to this day 
the largest State east of the Mississippi River. 

The negro runaways, who had no friends, either 
white or Indian, English, Spanish or American, built 
a fort on the Appalachicola, and occupied it with 
three hundred and thirty-four inmates. A single 
red-hot shot, heated with difficulty in the galley-fire 
of a United States gunboat, blew the fort into the 
air, killed two hundred and seventy negroes instantly 
and mortally injured nearly all the rest. Only three 
men escaped from the ruins unharmed. This event 
destroyed the power of the negroes in Florida, and 
gave a brief period of repose to the other inhabi- 
tants. 

Strange to relate, the destruction of the negro fort 
only inflamed the passions of the Seminoles, and 
excited them to more active hostility. They read- 
ily obtained supplies both of ammunition and weap- 
ons from the neighboring Bahama Islands. Fili- 
busters from abroad misled and excited them still 
more. In November, 1817, there had been robbery 
and murder both by whites and red men in the 
border counties of Georgia and Florida, and a grow- 
ing alarm had spread through all the region. Some 



26o General Andrezu Jackson. 



Georgia militia were in the field. United States 
troops, under the command of General Edmund P. 
Gaines, occupied Fort Scott, near the junction of the 
Chattahoochee and Flint rivers. In Georgia, near 
Fort Scott, was an Indian village called Fowltown, 
containing forty-five warriors, whose chief had set 
up the red war-pole, around which the warriors 
danced in the evening. General Gaines, on hearing 
this intelligence, sent for the chief, who refused to 
come. Then he dispatched a force of two hundred 
and fifty troops, under the command of Colonel 
Twiggs, with orders to bring to him these forty-five 
warriors and their chief, peaceably if they could, 
forcibly if they must. The detachment reached 
Fowltow^n just before the dawn of day, November 
21, i8i7. The warriors fired upon them. The 
troops returned the fire, upon which the Indians 
fled, leaving behind them two men and one woman 
slain, besides several wounded. Colonel Twiggs, on 
searching the town, found in the house of the chief a 
red coat of the English uniform, a pair of golden 
epaulets and a certificate in the handwriting of the 
British Colonel Nichols that the chief of the Fowl- 
town warriors had always been a true and faithful 
friend of the British. Colonel Twiggs remained 
near the town, which was burned on the following 
day by the order of General Gaines himself. 

On December i, 1817, an open barge, containing 
forty United States soldiers, seven wives of soldiers 
and four little children, was slowly ascending the 
Appalachicola River, a few miles below Fort Scott, 
in Georgia. Not an Indian had been seen by the 
party. Suddenly, as the boat was warping close in 



Indian Trotibles in Florida. 261 

shore, past a swamp covered thick with cane and 
trees, a large party of Indians lying in ambush 
poured a volley of musketry into the boat, killing or 
wounding nearly every soldier at the first fire. The 
savages rOvSe from their ambush, leaped into the boat 
and completed the massacre, with all the aggrava- 
tions known to savage warfare, even to the dashing 
out of the brains of infants torn from their mothers' 
arms. Only two men escaped unharmed. One 
woman was spared, who was carried away captive. 

Having tasted blood, the Seminoles raged about 
the Georgia frontier, killing, destroying and plunder- 
ing. All Georgia was in terror. Homes were laid 
waste and hundreds of cattle driven off. Before 
Christmas, Fort Scott, at the junction of the Chat- 
tahoochee and Flint, was threatened, and the 
garrison was short of provisions. 

In Florida, as General Gaines computed, there 
were but 2,700 warriors, but rumor exaggerated their 
numbers tenfold, and their hostile proceedings 
seemed to the people of the Gulf States almost as 
formidable an outbreak as the one which had pre- 
ceded the Creek War of 181 3-14. It had also its 
peculiar difficulties, because these Indians came forth 
from a Spanish province, a foreign land, and as soon 
as the work of destruction was accomplished, sought 
and found protection under the Spanish flag. 

On January 11, 1818, six weeks after the massacre 
of the barge party by the Seminoles, late in the 
evening, a messenger from Mr. Calhoun, Secretary 
of War, reached General Jackson's abode and placed 
in his hands a dispatch ordering him to the frontier 
to quell this alarming disturbance, and authorizing 



262 General Andrew Jackso7t. 



him to call upon the governors of adjacent States 
for all the men he needed. Before he slept that 
night, the general had decided upon his plan of 
operation, which was to call out his old and well- 
tried volunteers of Tennessee and Kentucky, and 
swoop down upon the savage foe, wherever they 
might be, without regard to boundary lines. 

So thought, so done. That was Andrew Jack- 
son's Avay. It is doubtful if there ever was a 
historical character who more instinctively realized 
that " the flighty purpose never is overtook," or that 
" the firstlings of his heart" should be '* the firstlings 
of his hand." The governor of Tennessee, as it 
chanced, was absent from Nashville and could not 
be reached. General Jackson ''took the responsi- 
bility," Eleven days after the receipt of Mr. 
Calhoun's order he left Nashville with a guard of 
two companies, amid the acclamations of the Avhole 
population, and started for Fort Scott, four hundred 
and fifty miles distant, leaving a thousand of his 
comrades at the rendezvous nearly ready to follow 
him. 

Before leaving home. General Jackson wrote a 
private letter to President Monroe on the delicate 
matter of boundary lines and the Spanish flag. The 
substance of it was : Why not seize the whole of 
Florida and hold it as an indemnity for the out- 
rages of Spain ? 

" This," he added, " can be done without implicat- 
ing the government. Let it be signified to me 
through any channel (say Mr. J. Rhea) that the pos- 
session of the Floridas would be desirable to the 
United States, and in sixty days it will be accom- 



Indian Troubles in Florida. 263 



plished." What confidence in his ability ! And the 
results always showed that his confidence was not 
misplaced. 

Mr. Rhea was an aged member of Congress from 
Tennessee, and much in the confidence of General 
Jackson. Now it so chanced that at this very time 
Mr. John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, was 
entering into negotiations with the Spanish minister 
for the peaceable acquisition of Florida by purchase 
or otherwise. To promote this negotiation General 
Gaines had been ordered to treat the Spanish 
governor and the Spanish flag with the most scrupu- 
lous respect. He was not to cross the boundary 
unless the occasion was irresistibly urgent, and on 
no account whatever was he to pursue a hostile 
party into a fortification over which waved the 
Spanish flag. 

Nevertheless, Mr. Monroe, from a sick-bed sent 
for Mr. John Rhea, showed him General Jackson's 
letter, and requested him to inform the general that 
the President approved of his suggestions. 

General Jackson received this vague reply when 
he was within a day's march of Fort Scott, and he 
accepted it as an unequivocal sanction of his pro- 
posal to seize and hold as much of Florida as he 
thought best. The Secretary of War had given him 
large discretion, and this letter, as he always main- 
tained to his dying day, authorized him to conduct 
the war absolutely according to his own judgment. 
This should be remembered in order that the reader 
may understand the far-reaching consequences 
which resulted from General Jackson's just and 
rational interpretation of the authority given to him. 



264 General Andreiv Jackson. 

It should also be remembered that he was not 
informed of the negotiation with Spain for the pur- 
chase of Florida. 

Thus authorized, and thus imperfectly informed, 
General Jackson paid not the slightest attention 
to boundary lines. He attacked the Seminoles 
wherever he could find them, and he pursued them 
whithersoever they sought refuge. The rapidity of 
his movements so forestalled the combinations of the 
enemy, that no considerable body of Indians was 
ever encountered. Many villages were burned. In 
one of them the soldiers found the red pole of war 
near the council-house, from which were suspended 
fifty fresh scalps, some of women and infants. In a 
house near by, there were old scalps of three hun- 
dred men. A thousand head of Georgia cattle were 
recaptured in the wilds ot Florida. 

General Jackson pushed on to the Spanish fort of 
St. Marks, at the mouth of the Appalachicola River. 
Discovering incontrovertible evidence that hostile 
Indians had found refuge within its wails, he wrote 
very politely to the Spanish commandant, inform- 
ing him that '' to prevent the recurrence of so gross 
a violation of neutralit}^," he deemed it expedient 
" to garrison that fortress with American troops 
until the close of the preseut war." 

Upon receiving from the Spanish commandant a 
reply denying that Indians hostile to the United 
States had found refuge within the fort, and refus- 
ing to surrender. General Jackson instantly marched 
into the fort, removed the Spanish flag, substituted 
the stars and stripes, and garrisoned the fort with 
his own troops. He continued to treat the Spanfsh 



Indian Troubles in Florida. 265 

governor with politeness and consideration. He 
informed him that he would furnish transports *' to 
convey himself, his family and his command to 
Pensacola,** The United States navy cooperating, 
he assumed the control of the commerce of the port, 
and in all other ways comported himself as became 
a conquerer who had brought St. Marks into the 
possession of the United States. 

Other Indian villages were captured. In a few 
days, so far as was known, there was not a hostile 
body within the bounds of Florida. On his home- 
ward march, he received from the governor of Pen- 
sacola a " solemn protest " against these proceed- 
ings, and a threat that, if he did not at once retire 
from the province, he should be compelled to do so 
by force. He replied to this document by march- 
ing for Pensacola, then garrisoned by three hun- 
dred Spanish troops. He opened fire upon the fort 
with one nine-pounder and five howitzers, and was 
about to order an assault, when the place was sur- 
rendered. 

In Fort St. Marks, under the protection of the 
Spanish flag, General Jackson found a Scottish 
trader named A. Arbuthnot, who, he had reason to 
believe, had been intriguing with the Indians and 
inciting them to hostility. Another British trader 
was taken with one of the Indian parties in the 
field. His name was R. C. Ambrister. He wore a 
British uniform, and had done his utmost to arouse 
the Indians to resist the Americans to extremity. 
These two men were put into close confinement at 
St. Marks. A court-martial was ordered to try 
them for " exciting the Indians to war," '* acting as 



266 General Andrew Jackson. 

spies" and ''inciting the Indians to murder." 
The court consisted of Major-General E. P. Gaines, 
president, and thirteen commissioned officers. Both 
men, after a two days* trial, were found guilty. 
Arbuthnot was sentenced by the court to be hanged ; 
Ambrister to receive fifty stripes and to be confined 
with ball and chain for twelve months. General 
Jackson approved the sentence dooming Arbuthnot 
to die, but disapproved that of Ambrister. He 
ordered Arbuthnot to be " suspended by the neck 
with a rope until he is dead, and Robert C. Ambris- 
ter to be shot to death." The sentences Avere exe- 
cuted on the following morning, after General 
Jackson had resumed his homeward march. 
Attempts were unjustly made to cast odium on 
General Jackson for the execution of these men ; 
but he never wavered in his belief that they were 
the immediate cause of all the massacre and woe 
which had been caused by the Seminole outbreak. 
'* They were spies, sir ; they were spies," he would 
say. And what else could he say or think when 
fourteen commissioned officers, after a thorough 
trial of the case, had pronounced them guilty of the 
offenses charged ? 



A World-Wide Commotion, 267 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

GENERAL JACKSON'S PROCEEDINGS IN FLORIDA CAUSE 

A WORLD-WIDE COMMOTION — THE POLITICIANS 

EAGER TO MAKE USE OF HIS POPULARITY. 

General Jackson left Florida in possession of the 
forces of the United States. There were garrisons 
of American troops both at St. Marks and at Pensa- 
cola, and no flag was seen at either place except the 
stars and stripes. Nashville received him on his 
arrival, as so often before and so often after, with 
enthusiastic approval. A public dinner was given 
him. One of the toasts was : 

" Pensacola — Spanish perfidy and Indian barbarity 
rendered its capture necessary. May our govern- 
ment never surrender it from the fear of war !" 

General Jackson volunteered the following toast : 

" Our Country : Though forbearance is her 
maxim, she should show to foreign nations that, 
under a pretense of neutrality, her rights are not to 
be outraged." 

When the information of what General Jackson 
had done in Florida reached Europe, it occasioned 
a profound sensation. The Spanish ministry at 
Madrid was amazed and confounded. In Great 
Britain, the administration of Castlereagh was at its 
wits* end between its reluctance to resume the 
burdens of war, and the clamors of the people for 
revenge upon the slayers of Arbuthnot and Ambris- 
ter. Every cabinet in Europe discussed the dilemma. 



268 General Andrew Jackson, 

The vast preponderance of American opinion sus- 
tained General Jackson. The negotiation with 
Spain for the cession of Florida was, of course, dis- 
rupted, seemingly never to be resumed. President 
Monroe and his cabinet discussed the whole subject 
almost daily during July and August, 1818. Mr. 
Calhoun, the Secretary of War, gave it as his opinion 
that General Jackson had exceeded his orders and 
that his conduct ought to be formally investigated. 
Mr. Crawford thought that, in taking the Spanish 
forts. General Jackson believed and had reason to 
believe he was doing what the President wished 
done. The President himself, though he denied all 
recollection of the Rhea letter, had no choice but 
to agree with Mr. Crawford, 

In these critical circumstances, John Quincy 
Adams, the Massachusetts baby of Andrew Jackson's 
natal year, now Secretary of State, came to the 
rescue of the Administration, of the North Caro- 
lina baby, now the famous and embroiling General 
Jackson, and of the imperiled peace o the world. 
He said, in substance : 

The case is so complicated that, whatever course 
Ave adopt, we shall do some wrong. We must stand 
by General Jackson, while frankly admitting that he 
has done some unauthorized acts. His taking of the 
Spanish posts, although it was his own act, was just 
and necessary under the circumstances. Mr. Adams 
advised that both Pensacola and St. Marks .be 
restored to Spain. With regard to the execution of 
the British traders, he accepted the verdict of the 
court-martial, as well as the presentation of the 
evidence upon which the verdict was founded. His 



A World- Wide Commotion. 269 

reply to Senor Pizarro, the Spanish minister, was a 
document of torrent-like power and audacity. It 
concluded with a threat to the effect that if ever 
agai?t an officer of the United States should be com- 
pelled to march into Florida and seize the Spanish 
forts, the United States would hold them and the 
province itself as a permanent possession. 

Never had a diplomatic paper more immediate 
and striking success than this. Besides quieting the 
conscience of the American people, it more than half 
convinced the Spanish government. It had its 
effect on Lord Castlereagh, and essentially contri- 
buted to the preservation of peace. It satisfied even 
General Jackson, though he made an exceedingly 
wry face at the surrender of the forts. 

It remained for the Congress of the United States 
to pronounce its judgment upon the disturbing 
events in Florida. Upon that judgment, too, the 
electric dispatch of Mr. Adams had its effect. 

General Jackson, at the Hermitage, was watching 
the course of events with an eagle eye. One even- 
ing in January, 18 19, he dropped in upon his neigh- 
bor. Major William B. Lewis. They had met 
earlier in the day, when the major had shown his 
general an overcoat fresh from the tailor's. General 
Jackson had tried it on, and pronounced it a good 
coat. On entering Major Lewis's library in the 
evening, and seeing the overcoat still hanging over 
a chair, he took it upon his arm, and said : 

" Major, there's a combination in Congress to ruiu 
me. I start for Washington to-morrow morning. 
My overcoat is rusty ; I want you to get another 



270 General Andreza Jackson. 

made for yourself and charge it to me, and let me 
take this one with me." 

The general gave further explanation of the sup- 
posed combination and took his leave. The next 
morning before the dawn he Avas on horseback 
again for a twenty days' ride to Washington. At 
the capital he refused all invitations until Congress 
had pronounced its verdict. Day by day he was 
closeted with the President, with members of the 
Cabinet, with members of Congress, showing docu- 
ments, making explanations, and in general conduct- 
ing the campaign. The debate in the House of 
Representatives lasted nearly a month. Henry 
Clay was General Jackson's chief opponent in the 
House, as Mr. Calhoun had been in the cabinet. 
They all belonged to the same political party. 
Clay and Calhoun were already strenuous aspirants 
to the Presidency. As John Quincy Adams and 
Colonel Benton informs us. Clay and Calhoun snuffed 
danger to their own aspirations in General Jackson's 
overwhelming popularity, and naturally wished to 
deal him a blow that would so diminish his popu- 
larity as to render him innocuous as a rival. Hence 
their efforts to crush him on this seemingly favor- 
able occasion. But they made a fatal mistake — a 
mistake that was fatal to their own political aspira- 
tions, and resulted in raising an impassable barrier 
between them and the Presidential chair. February 
8, 1819, the resolutions of censure came to the vote. 
The execution of the two British traders was sanc- 
tioned by a vote of 90 to 54 ; the seizure of the posts 
was justified by 91 to 65. Congress sustained Gen- 
eral Jackson. 



i 




Gene7^al Jackson Triumphant. 271 

He next took the verdict of the people. He left 
Washington February 11, 1819, for a visit to the 
northern cities. His four days' stay at Philadelphia 
was a continuous round of festivities and receptions. 
Whenever the public could catch a glimpse of him 
he was greeted with the most enthusiastic cheers. 
At New York, the Common Council conferred upon 
him the freedom of the city. He dined with the 
Mayor and a brilliant company of guests. Tammany 
Hall gave him a public dinner. The newspapers 
bestowed upon him almost unmingled eulogy. What 
surprised the gentlemen who were nearest him was 
the unvarying tact of his demeanor and his 
responses, as well as the soldier-like dignity of his 
bearing before the public. At Philadelphia he gave 
as his toast '* The memory of Benjamin Franklin;" 
at New York, '' Governor DeWitt Clinton." At 
Baltimore and Washington, on his return, similar 
attentions were paid him, and as he approached his 
home, it appeared as if all Tennessee united to give 
him an unequaled welcome. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Adams continued his triumphant 
diplomacy. While General Jackson was dancing at 
the New York ball, Feb. 22, 18 19, the Spanish min- 
ister bad signed the treaty which ceded Florida to 
the United States. There were some delays in sur- 
rendering the country, but on the same day in Feb- 
ruary, 1 82 1, all difficulties being removed, the treaty 
was finally ratified, and Spain announced her readi- 
ness to surrender the province. 

The army being now greatly reduced, General 
Jackson resigned his commission. President Monroe 
immediately appointed him Governor of Florida, 



272 General Andrew Jackson, 

and Commissioner to receive the Territory from 
the Spanish officials. He held his office in Florida 
but four months. He resigned in disgust, and early 
in November, 182 1, he was at home again. He was 
then fifty-four years of age, and hoped to spend the 
evening of his life in cultivating his farm on the 
banks of the Cumberland. The new Hermitage 
was completed — a two-story brick house, with a 
double piazza in front and behind. It was neither a 
handsome nor a spacious edifice, but it was then the 
finest house in the county. Behind it was a well 
kept garden, and around it one of the best 
cultivated farms in Western Tennessee. General 
Jackson had no expectation whatever of reentering 
public life. Civil office he never relished, and the 
cession of Florida seemed to have removed all 
danger of foreign war. 

It was in vain, however, that General Jackson 
dreamed of passing the remainder of his days in 
rural quietude and in the felicities of domestic 
life. Such an overshadowing reputation as his, 
such unparalleled popularity as he enjoyed, were 
possessions too valuable to his party and to 
politicians to be permitted to go unused. As one 
of his admirers said : *' Never since the days of 
Washington has any man held such winning 
Presidential cards as Old Hickory has in his hand." 
That, of course, settled it. " The good of the 
country " demanded that General Jackson should 
give up his personal desires and permit his private 
interests to be sacrificed in behalf of the public wel- 
fare. 

At first. General Jackson resisted all appeals 



w 
a 


K 






-a 




General Jackso7is Popularity. 2"]^ 



made to him to become a candidate for the Presi- 
dency. But there has never been a popular citizen 
of the United States who could elude the 
machinations of astute party leaders who had 
resolved that he should serve his country as a 
Presidential candidate. General Jackson's scruples 
were overcome. He consented to enter the field as 
a candidate ; and, on entering the field, he took his 
personal characteristics with him. The result was 
interesting. As soon as the old hero got into the 
fight, not only his opponents, but also his sup- 
porters, were astounded at the ability he displayed 
in this new field of warfare. I say new field of 
ivarfare, because such it was. Whenever Andrew 
Jackson went into a contest of any kind, warfare 
accompanied him. 



2 74 General Andrew Jackson, 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE ART OF PRESIDENT-MAKING — GENERAL JACKSON 

A CANDIDATE — NO ELECTION BY THE PEOPLE — 

HENRY CLAY DECIDES THE CONTEST IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

The early Presidents of this Republic were nomi- 
nated in a very quiet, expeditious, inexpensive and 
pleasant manner. In January or February of the 
year of a Presidential election, a notice, of four or 
five lines, was issued by each party, inviting its 
members of Congress to meet in the Representatives' 
chamber at the Capitol, at seven o'clock in the even- 
ing, for the purpose of ** recommending candidates 
to the people of the United States for the offices 
of President and Vice-President." At the time 
appointed, the caucus met, organized, balloted ; and, 
behold, the great business done ! Usually it was 
all over by nine o'clock in the evening, and the 
nominations were accepted by the rank and file of 
each party without audible demur. 

In this simple way the man who had the strongest 
claim to be considered the head of his party, was verv 
likely to be placed at the head of the Presidential 
ticket. But the Congressional caucus stood in the 
way of all personal ambitions that were beyond the 
recognition of the leaders of the two parties at 
Washington assembled. In i824, there were five 
statesmen, of national prominence and great talents, 
who had some hope of being presented as candidates 



Presidential Election 0/182^. 275 



for the Presidency to the rank and file of the domin- 
ant party: William H. Crawford, of Georgia, Sec- 
retary of the Treasury ; John Quincy Adams, Secre- 
tary of State ; John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War ; 
Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives, and De Witt Clinton of New York. 

But there was a group of men in Tennessee who 
had set their hearts upon the elevation of Andrew 
Jackson to the Presidency. The most resolute and 
zealous of these was Major William B. Lewis, who 
had served under Jackson in the late war, and had 
rendered him at critical times extremely important 
service. Major Lewis was a wealthy Tennessee 
planter of the old school, absolutely destitute of 
political ambition, but most warmly attached to his 
old commander, whom he believed to possess a mili- 
tary capacity equal to that of Alexander, Julius Caesar 
or Napoleon Bonaparte. He believed also that he 
was capable of administering the government on the 
principles avowed in his correspondence with Mr. 
Monroe in 1816, of which the major possessed a copy. 
His home was on the road which the general always 
traveled on his way from his farm to Nashville, and 
there had grown up between the two families a 
familiar, confidential and affectionate friendship. 

The general had returned from Florida in Novem- l 
ber, 1 82 1, a private citizen for the first time in ten | 
years. Then it was that Major Lewis entered upon 
the task of placing him on the road to the Presidency. 
Many other men cooperated in the work ; many 
things were done in many States ; but the animating 
spirit of the movement I'n its earlier and doubtful 
stages was Major Lewis, who was probably the most 



276 General A7tdreiu Jackson. 

adroit wire-puller and consummate political manager 
of that time. 

First, the Nashville Gazette^ in January, 1822, 
placed the name of Andrew Jackson conspicuously 
before its readers as a Presidential candidate, and the 
movement was seconded by the press of the State 
generally. In July, 1822, the Legislature of Tennes- 
see adopted a series of resolutions formally nomi- 
nating General Jackson as a candidate. In 1823 it 
devolved upon the Legislature to elect a United 
States Senator to succeed Colonel Williams, a highly 
popular gentleman opposed to General Jackson's 
election. Major Lewis now adopted a bold measure. 
To use his own language : " As nobody else could 
be found to beat Colonel Williams, it was proposed 
to beat him with the general himself." Andrew 
Jackson was accordingly elected a Senator of the 
United States. A movement in favor of the general 
was also started in Pennsylvania, where at every 
assemblage of the people the name of Andrew Jack- 
son proved to be irresistibly attractive. 

King Caucus was dethroned. The Congressional 
caucus met, indeed, in 1824, but only sixty-six mem- 
bers attended, and the nomination by it of Mr. 
Crawford carried but little weight. 

General Jackson's conduct at Washington as a 
member of the Senate, was everything which his 
most prudent friends could have desired. He 
buried the tomahawk extremely deep. He had had 
a quarrel with Winfield Scott ; he now made friends 
with him. He became reconciled to Henry Clay, 
dined with him, invited him to dinner, and rode 
with him in the same carriage. Strangest of all, he 



Presidential Election 0/ 1S24.. 277 



and Colonel Benton became cordial friends, though 
the general still had in his arm a relic of the Benton 
affray in the shape of a bullet. His votes in the 
Senate were such as commended him to conservative 
business men, and some of them were well pleasing 
to the Federalists. He wrote a letter favoring: a 
moderate and "judicious" tariff. He voted for 
several internal improvement bills. 

A masterly movement of Major Lewis's was the 
timely publication, in 1824, of the dignified and 
patriotic correspondence which had taken place in 
1816 and 1817, between General Jackson and Presi- 
dent Monroe. The calm and elevated tone of this 
correspondence had the best possible effect in win- 
ning to the general's side the solid citizens, who care 
nothing for party triumphs, except so far as they 
promote the welfare of the country. 

It is evident from the records of the time that 
General Jackson was the most brilliant and capti- 
vating personage in Washington. The season itself 
was one of exceptional interest. The eighth of 
January was celebrated all over the country with 
unusual fervor. The general figured in many 
attractive pageants and ceremonials. Mr. Custis, of 
Arlington, presented him with General Washing- 
ton's pocket telescope. Mr. Robinson, of Sudley, 
Va., gave him the pair of pistols which General 
Washington received from Lafayette during the 
Revolutionary War. With Lafayette himself the 
general had many pleasing interviews, for this was 
the year of Lafayette's triumphal progress through 
the United States. Here is a passage from one of 
Mrs. Jackson's letters : 



27S General Andrew Jackson, 

'* We are boarding in the same house with the 
nation's guest, Lafayette. I am delighted with him. 
When Ave first came to this house, the general said 
he would go and pay the marquis the first visit. 
Both having the same desire, and at the same time, 
they met on the entry of the stairs. It was truly 
interesting. The emotion of revolutionary feeling 
was aroused in them both. At?Charleston, General 
Jackson saw him on the field of battle ; the one a 
boy of twelve, the marquis twenty-three. He 
wears a wig, and is a little inclined to corpulency. 
He is very healthy, eats hearty, goes to every party, 
and that is every night." 

Incidents of this kind exhibited the candidate to 
the country in a captivating light, and made him a 
favorite theme of the newspapers. His demeanor 
both in public and in private was all suavity and 
grace. As Daniel Webster said, in one of his letters 
to his brother Ezekiel, ** General Jackson's manners 
are more Presidential than those of any of the can- 
didates. He is grave, mild and reserved. My 
wife is for him decidedly. . . The truth is, he is 
the people's candidate in a great part of the South- 
ern and Western country." Several observers of 
the period report that, of all the candidates, he was 
the ladies* favorite in Washington. 

But these attractive qualifications did not suffice 
on this occasion. The people failed to elect a 
President in 1824, and it devolved upon the House 
of Representatives to choose one of the three lead- 
ing candidates, Crawford, Jackson and Adams. As 
Jackson received the vote of more States and of 
more people than any other candidate, it was 



Presidential Election <y 1824. 279 



natural that his friends should look to the House to 
gratify the desire of so commanding a plurality. 
Henry Clay, then at the most effective and brilliant 
period of his long career, forty-seven years of age, 
had been for many years Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, and had acquired in it so great an 
influence that he now held the gift of the Presidency 
in his hand. He left his home in Kentucky fully 
resolved not to vote for Andrew Jackson in any 
circumstances whatever ; first, because, to use his 
own language, Jackson was '* a military chieftain," 
and, secondly, because, as a military chieftain, he 
had shown an arbitrary cast of character — reasons, 
it may be remarked, which would have prevented 
Mr. Clay from voting for George Washington for 
President. No doubt Mr. Clay had persuaded him- 
self that these were the true reasons for his opposi- 
tion to General Jackson ; but deep in his heart was 
the actual reason, namely, an unconquerable personal 
dislike of Andrew Jackson, generated by the clear 
perception that of all men he was most to be dreaded 
as a political rival. 

Crawford, who had been prostrated with 
paralysis, was equally out of the question ; and, 
therefore, by a kind of 'self-imposed necessity, the 
Speaker threw the whole weight of his name and 
influence in favor of John Quincy Adams. A long 
contest had been expected in the House, and the 
hall was crowded with excited spectators. On the 
very first ballot Mr. Adams received the votes of 
thirteen States, then a majority, and Daniel Webster, 
one of the tellers, announced to the astonished and 
breathless multitude that John Quincy Adams had 



28o General Andrew Jackson, 

been chosen President of the United States. The 
announcement was received with faint applause and 
some hisses. The galleries were cleared and the 
House soon after adjourned. 

The defeated candidates gave no outward signs 
of disappointment, least of all General Jackson, who 
could be, w^hen the occasion required it, a con- 
summate histrionic artist. That very evening, four 
or five hours after the vote in the House, he met his 
successful rival face to face in the East Room, at 
President Monroe's last levee. We have a graphic 
account of the meeting of these North Carolina and 
Massachusetts babies, now grown so great, from the 
pen of S. G. Goodrich (Peter Parley) : 

" Mr. Adams was by himself ; General Jackson 
had a large, handsome lady on his arm. They 
looked at each other for a moment, and then Gen- 
eral Jackson moved forward, and reaching out his 
long arm, said : 

" ' How do you do, Mr. Adams. I give you my 
left hand, for the right, as you see, is devoted to the 
fair. I hope you are very well, sir.' 

"AH this was gallantly and heartily said and done. 
Mr. Adams took the general's hand, and said, with 
chilling coldness : 

" * Very well, sir. I hope General Jackson is well ?' 

" It was curious to see the Western planter, the 
Indian fighter, the stern soldier who had written his 
country's glory in the blood of the enemy at New 
Orleans, genial and gracious in the midst of a court, 
while the old courtier and diplomat was stiff, rigid, 
cold as a statue." 

A few days after this meeting, Mr. Adams offered 




"i ; 




Presideiitial Election <?y^ 1824. 281 



the post of Secretary of State to Henry Clay. The 
Kentuckian consulted his friends, thought the 
matter over for a week, and accepted the offer. It 
was an act which a skillful politician would not have 
done. Mr. Clay did it, however, and did it appar- 
ently without anticipating the interpretation which 
would be put upon it by his antagonist. 

General Jackson heard this news from Colonel R. 
M. Johnson, of the Senate, and instantly attributed 
the appointment to " bargain and corruption ;" or, 
as he wrote to Major Lewis, " The Judas of the 
West has closed the contract, and will receive the 
thirty pieces of silver. His end will be the same. 
Was there ever witnessed such a bare-faced cor- 
ruption in any country before ?" The same idea, 
though expressed more moderately and at greater 
length, was spread over the country by means of a 
letter from Jackson to Major Lewis, both of whom 
lived and died implicitly believing in the truth of 
the charge. 

In another long letter to Samuel Swartwout, of 
New York,- Jackson descanted with masterly force 
and tact upon Henry Clay's objectionable phrase, 
" military chieftain." A better letter for a political 
purpose has never been written, and it had the addi- 
tional merit of being substantially true. He sketched 
briefly his career as a soldier, showing that it was 
the peril of his country which alone had ever called 
him into the field from civil pursuits ; to which he 
had gladly returned when no foe menaced its 
borders. 

" Mr. Clay," he added, '* has never yet risked him- 



282 Gener^al Andrew Jackso7i, 

self for his country. He has never sacrificed his 
repose, nor made an efTort to repel an invading foe." 

This long- and powerful letter, published in hun- 
dreds of newspapers, was almost enough of itself to 
elect the author of it to the Presidency at the next 
opportunity. 

The general's homeward journey to Tennessee 
was a triumphal progress. If he had been the Presi- 
dent-elect he could not have been more enthusias- 
tically welcomed. 

Soon after General Jackson's arrival at home, 
occurred General Lafayette's memorable visit to 
Nashville. There was a pageant of many days, dur- 
ing which it was impossible to determine which was 
the popular hero of the occasion ; the French or the 
American general. At the Hermitage, General 
Jackson had the pleasure of showing the French 
gentlemen over his farm, where, as one of them 
recorded, " we everywhere remarked the greatest 
order and the most perfect neatness." 



Presidential Campaign of 1828. 283 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1 828 — GENERAL 
JACKSON TRIUMPHANT — SUDDEN DEATH OF MRS. 
JACKSON — ITS EFFECT ON THE GEN- 
ERAL — THE INAUGURATION. 

The Presidential campaign of 1828 began on the 
day of Mr. Adams' election by the House of Repre- 
sentatives in 1825. Four years of pageantry and 
tumult followed. But it was not all tumult and fes- 
tival. The ^' bargain and corruption " cry had its 
effect. Henry Clay did not submit in silence to the 
charge of bargain and corruption. He personally 
met the charge, and gave as complete a refutation 
of it as the case admitted. But, unfortunately, 
although the charge was undoubtedly false, it was, 
nevertheless, one of those charges which can only 
be denied, not refuted, at least, so far as political 
opponents are concerned; and it was used with 
damaging effect. Mr. Clay's adherents carried the 
war into Jackson's own county, even into his own 
family. The whole life of Andrew Jackson was 
ruthlessly raked over, and commented on with 
partisan rancor and unscrupulousness. His duels, 
his feuds, his personal affrays, his hanging of desert- 
ers and his execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister 
were made the most of. 

The campaign was distinguished for the enven- 
omed animosity displayed on both sides. Adams 
was accused of numberless political crimes, and also 



284 General Andrew Jackson. 

of personal dishonesty. Every one of the accusa- 
tions was doubtless untrue ; but Adams was so cold- 
hearted, so regardless of the obligations of com- 
radeship, so steeped in that odious bogus public 
virtue which always strengthens the opposition and 
from which a friend can never derive any benefit, that 
the masses of the people loved to believe whatever 
was said against him, and he had but few zealous per- 
sonal defenders. Jackson, on the other hand, was so 
chivalric and warm-hearted, and it was so well 
known that he never turned a cold shoulder to a 
friend, his supporters rushed to his defense with 
that self-sacrificing devotion which seldom encoun- 
ters defeat. 

Of all the floods of vituperation and calumny that 
were poured upon him, nothing moved General 
Jackson except the attacks made upon his revered 
mother, and the revival of the ancient scandals con- 
cerning his marriage, which also keenly wounded 
Mrs. Jackson. Major Lewis, besides organizing a 
committee at Nashville to investigate and refute 
false charges against the general, undertook per- 
sonally the congenial task of defending Mrs. Jack- 
son. He devoted six months to this object, traveled 
thousands of miles in search of evidence, and per- 
formed his duty so well that the vindication of Mrs. 
Jackson was complete. Only the basest and most 
malignant of mankind could thenceforth lend a hos- 
pitable ear to the slanders against her. 

An Irish refugee named Binns, who was in favor 
of Adams, and edited a Philadelphia paper called 
the Democratic Press^ brought out a number of 
campaign hand-bills which attracted much atten- 



^1. 



Presidential Campaign of 1828. 285 



tion. One of them, called the '' Coffin Hand-bill," 
attained great notoriety. I have a copy of it before 
me. It is adorned with six intensely black coffins, on 
each of which is the name of a soldier who was hanged 
for desertion, at New Orleans. A blood-curdling 
account of the hangings is given, and it is intimated 
that should Jackson be elected President of the 
United States, some of his opponents would meet 
with a like tragic fate. 

There had never been so much talent, whether 
political or literary, employed in a Presidential 
campaign as in this one on behalf of General Jack- 
son. Much of the writing was done with a high 
degree of ability, and a number of the general's 
friends gave themselves up, without reserve, to the 
work of electing him. On the other hand, the 
attacks upon him were often delivered clumsily, and 
recoiled upon the accusers. There was a lumber- 
ing pamphlet, for example, in which General Jack- 
son's combats and duels were presented in the form 
of a numbered catalogue, from one to thirty-six. 
This labored work called forth the following para- 
graph : 

"Cool and Deliberate Murder. — Jackson coolly and 
deliberately put to death upward of fifteen hundred British 
troops on the eighth of January, 181 5, on the plains below New 
Orleans, for no other offense than that they wished to sup in the 
city that night." 

So adroit a sentence as this, in the crisis of a 
Presidential election, neutralizes the effect of many 
pamphlets. For those who could not read there 
was the hickory pole in thousands of villages and 



286 General Andrezv Jackson. 

towns, the erection of each of which furnished an 
opportunity for an interesting- procession and plenty 
of campaign speaking. 

Imagine, too, General Jackson's visit to New 
Orleans to celebrate the eighth of January, 1828. A 
magnificent procession of steamboats descended the 
Mississippi and swept past the city on the morning 
of the great day. General Jackson standing on the 
upper deck of one of them, his head uncovered, vis- 
ible to the countless multitude. Eighteen steam- 
boats of the largest size steamed round the crescent 
and descended as far as the battle-field, where impos- 
ing ceremonies took place. This grand demonstration 
was ridiculed by a portion of the opposition, while 
others used it for the purpose of trying to make the 
people believe that if Jackson were elected President 
he would overthrow the liberties of the country and 
establish a military despotism. 

Everything seemed to work in favor of Jackson. 
President Adams himself wrought for him by his 
exasperating disregard of his obligations to his polit- 
ical friends. Binns attempted to give him a few 
hints on the subject, but was coldly informed that 
the President would not make any removals of 
office-holders lor political reasons. Binns bowed 
respectfully, and remarked that the consequence 
would be that the President himself would be 
removed as soon as the term for which he had been 
elected should expire. In reporting the incident 
Binns said : '' This intimation [of his removal] gave 
the President no concern, and assuredly did in no 
wise affect his previous determination." 

Election day came around at length. Andrew 



rAk' 



Presidential Campaign ^1828. i^^j 

Jackson was elected President of the United States, 
and John C. Calhoun was reelected Vice-President. 
Out of 261 electoral votes, Jackson received 178 and 
Mr. Adams 83 — less than half the whole number. 
All New England, except one district in Maine, voted 
for Adams and Rush. New York gave them sixteen 
electoral votes to twenty for Jackson and Calhoun. 
New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland voted for 
Adams and Rush. Every other State voted for 
Jackson — Pennsylvania, Virginia, both Carolinas, 
Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Missouri and Illinois. As for Tennessee, in the 
whole State Adams and Rush obtained less than 
three thousand votes, and in many towns every vote 
was cast for Jackson and Calhoun. A distinguished 
gentleman of North Carolina told Mr. Parton that he 
happened to ride into a Tennessee village on the even- 
ing of the last day of election. He found all the men in 
the place engaged in hunting down two of their fel- 
low-citizens. He asked what the obnoxious men had 
done. He was told that the village had set its heart 
upon giving Andrew Jackson a unanimous vote, but 
these two men had frustrated this desire by voting 
for Adams and Rush. When the whiskey flowed 
freely in the evening, the exhilarated majority pro- 
posed to tar and feather the two independent voters, 
who, however, fled to the woods and so escaped. 

When the news reached the Hermitage, it created 
no particular sensation, because the close calculators 
had pretty clearly anticipated the result. Mrs. Jack- 
son quietly remarked : 

" Well, for Mr. Jackson's sake, I am glad. For 
my own part, I never wished it." 



2 88 General Afidrew Jacksoii. 



But the people of Nashville received the tidings 
with the enthusiasm that was usually aroused among 
them by any event which nearly concerned General 
Jackson,and they resolved to celebrate the victory by 
a banquet that should surpass anything known in the 
annals of their city. Theday appointed for the dinner 
was December 23, the anniversary of the first attack 
upon the British below New Orleans. General Jack- 
son had accepted an invitation to the banquet. While 
the gentlemen of Nashville were making arrange- 
ments for the festival, the ladies organized them- 
selves into sewing-circles for the purpose of prepar- 
ing a sumptuous wardrobe for Mrs. Jackson to wear 
after she had taken up her abode in the Presidential 
mansion. But alas! she was never to wear those 
sumptuous garments ! The shroud was to take the 
place of the White House robes. 

The morning of December 23, 1828, the day 
appointed for the grand banquet in honor of the 
election of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency, 
broke auspiciously upon Nashville. Soon after sun- 
rise the various committees were completing the 
work of preparation. The setting of the long tables 
and the decoration of the dining-room were nearly 
finished. The officers and men of the troop who 
were to escort the President-elect from the Hermit- 
age to the city were dressing for their long ride. 
Country wagons and wayfarers were beginning to 
come in, and the roads far and near were filled with 
people on their way to the capital. 

In the midst of these festive preparations, a horse- 
man arrived from the Hermitage with dreadful 
news : Late in the evening before, Mrs. Jacksoi 



Death of M^^s. Jackson. 289 



had died suddenly of heart-disease. She had been 
ill for several days, but had recovered sufficiently 
to be seemingly out of danger. These facts were 
not known to the public, and the shock caused by 
the news of her death was paralyzing. The grief of 
the people was beyond portrayal. Every one felt, 
and felt most poignantly, that the death of Mrs. 
Jackson was a personal affliction and a national' 
calamity. 

All the festive preparations were immediately 
abandoned. A handbill was printed countermand- 
ing' the previous arrangements, and requesting the 
people to observe the dayof the funeral by abstaining 
from their ordinary business and causing the church- 
bells to be tolled. 

At the Hermitage, the blow had fallen with terri- 
ble force, with crushing weight. For a long time 
the bereaved husband clasped his wife in his arms, 
refusing to believe that she was dead. He sat by 
her side all through the hours of the night, incon- 
solable, occasionally feeling her pulse and placing 
his hand over her heart, still hoping that she might 
revive. Major Lewis, who had been immediately 
sent for, arrived just before daylight, and found him 
still sitting there speechless, the image of despair 
and woe. At the funeral he was supported to the 
grave, at the bottom of the Hermitage garden, 
between General Coffee and Major Rutledge, and 
he needed their help at every step of the short dis- 
tance. At the sight of this pitiful spectacle, the vast 
concourse which had assembled from all the country 
round manifested uncontrollable emotion. The 
general seemed to have grown aged and helpless in 



290 General And7^ew Jackson, 

a night, and when some old friend seized his hand 
and uttered words of sympathy, he was unable to 
make an audible response. He rallied somewhat in 
a few days, but it was remarked by all his nearest 
friends that he was never the same man again. 

The acuteness and depth of his sorrow had impor- 
tant consequences to the nation ; at least, so many 
of his friends imagined. He believed that the 
scandals of the late campaign had hastened the death 
of his wife, if they had not caused it, and he knew 
that they had embittered the last months of her life. 
For some years Mrs. Jackson had been revered by 
a large circle in Tennessee as an eminent saint, a 
woman exalted more by her virtues, her boundless 
benevolence and her religious devoutness, than by 
her connection with the most popular man in the 
nation. No doubt this circumstance sharpened to 
her the bitterness of the attacks upon her good 
name, and more hotly inflamed the just indignation 
of her husband. In his own mind, he held the 
leaders of the opposite party responsible for the 
cruel charges and insinuations which their news- 
papers had promulgated. He knew his own power 
over his adherents, and he imagined that Mr. Adams 
or Mr. Clay had but to express a wish to the editors 
of their party organs to silence them on any topic. 
So decided were his convictions on this subject, that 
he never forgave Henry Clay, and when he went to 
Washington to be inaugurated, he refused to call 
on, or have any intercourse with, Mr. Adams, the 
outgoing President. 

One shrinks from probing the state of mind and 
heart which the agony of his bereavement and his 



Death of Mrs, Jacks oru 291 

conviction as to the cause of his wife's death engen- 
dered in General Jackson ; but in order that we 
may understand certain future events, it is necessary 
for us to have a true conception of these facts ; for 
the death of Mrs. Jackson had an influence upon the 
political history of the United States, and effects of 
national consequence issued from her grave. Unless 
one gives his best consideration to the subject, it is 
difficult, perhaps impossible, to measure the depth, 
the poignancy of Andrew Jackson's bereavement, 
which was in exact ratio to the extent and quality 
of the love which he cherished for his wife. All the 
unparalleled earnestness, intensity, chivalry, tender- 
ness, devotion and reverence of his nature were 
concentrated in his love for her. When he became 
her husband he in no wise ceased to be her lover. 
His love was of that dignity that it went hand in 
hand even with the vow he made to her in marriage. 
Instead of suffering the least eclipse, his gallantry, 
his devotion, his respect, his admiration, his love 
grew with his growing years. As I have already 
said, the chosen of his heart was to him no less 
sacred than his God, and in the words of Holy Writ, 
he could truly say : '' *I have loved thee with an 
everlasting affection ; therefore with loving kindness 
have I drawn thee.* " 

Nor did Andrew Jackson's love cease with his 
wife's death. He mourned her to the last day of 
his life, and was guided by what he supposed would 
be her wishes in all matters in which he thought 
she would have taken an interest had she been alive. 
In the last year of his life, as he was sitting near 
her grave, talking with Major Lewis about certain 



2Q2 General Andrew Jackson. 



provisions in his last will, the major suggested that 
his entire estate should not be given to his adopted 
son, but that a portion of it should be settled on the 
son's wife and children. After a long pause, the 
general said : '' No. If she,'* pointing to the tomb 
in the garden, '* were alive, she would wish him 
to have it all, and to me her wish is law." 

The Honorable Nicholas P. Trist, President 
Jackson's private secretary, relates an affecting 
incident which occurred while the President was on 
a visit to the Rip Raps in Virginia. Mr. Trist had 
retired for the night and so had the President. At 
the last moment, the secretary remembered certain 
letters about which he wanted specific instructions. 
" As the letters were to be sent off early the next 
morning," Mr. Trist says, " I returned to his [Presi- 
dent Jackson's] chamber-door ; and tapping gently, in 
order not to awake him if he had got to sleep, my 
tap was answered by ' Come in.' He was undressed, 
but not yet in bed, as I supposed he must be by 
that time. He was sitting at the little table, with 
his wife's miniature— a very large one, then for the 
first time seen by me — before him, propped up 
against some books ; and between him and the pic- 
ture lay an open book, which bore the marks of 
long use. This book, as I afterward learned, was 
her prayer-book. The miniature he always wore 
next to his heart, suspended round his neck by a 
strong black cord. The last thing he did every 
night, before lying down to rest, was to read in that 
book, with that picture under his eyes." 

It is not to be expected that a man who loved his 
wife, living and dead, with such loyalty of affection, 




MRS. ANDREW JACKSON.*— <S^ee Page 292. 



* From a photograpla by Thuss, Nashville, Tenn. 



Death of Mrs, Jackson, 293 



with such immutable devotion, and who believed 
that her death had certainly been hastened and [prob- 
ably caused by the calumnies of her detractors, 
would permit the wrongs done to her to go unre- 
dressed. Perhaps it would never have been possi- 
ble for Andrew Jackson to ignore personal consider- 
ations in the bestowal of office, so powerful in him 
was the noble instinct of providing for honorable, 
capable men to whom he felt himself to be indebted 
for services done for him and for the country. To 
this instinct, so natural to the natural chieftain and 
the idolized leader of men, was now added an 
equally natural and commendable desire for retribu- 
tion upon those who, as he believed, had wantonly 
violated the sanctity of his home and profaned the 
name of the gentle and affectionate wife who had 
made it home to him for so many happy years. 

It was a month's journey then from Nashville to 
Washington. On a Sunday afternoon, in the mid- 
dle of January, 1829, General Jackson left Nashville, 
accompanied by his nephew, A. J. Donelson, who 
was to be his private secretary, and by Mrs. A. J. 
Donelson, who was to preside in the White House. 
Major Lewis also went with him, and a few other 
friends, and the general carried in his pocket his 
inaugural address, which had been written at the 
mansion of Major Lewis. The party descended the 
Cumberland in a steamboat to the Ohio, and 
steamed up the Ohio to Pittsburg, a voyage of many 
days, during which the boat scarcely passed one 
log-cabin without receiving the best salutations its 
inmates could offer. At the larger towns immense 



294 General Andrew Jackson, 

multitudes gathered to cheer the general on his 
way. 

On reaching Washington and settling at the 
Indian Queen Tavern, the President-elect received 
hundreds of visitors every day, and it was evident 
that a large number of the people who were flock- 
ing to Washington, had come with the expectation 
of being appointed to office. As Daniel Webster 
wrote, in his humorous way, Feb. 19, 1829: "A 
great multitude, too many to be fed without a mira- 
cle, are already in the city, hungry for office." 

There was a strange excitement among the peo- 
ple, many of whom, as Mr. Webster remarked, 
*' really seem to think that the country is rescued 
from some dreadful danger." 

Never before had there been such a crowd at an 
inauguration. At the moment when the multitude 
caught sight of General Jackson's erect, imposing 
form, as he issued from between the columns of the 
well-known portico, every hat was removed and 
ten thousand radiant human faces shone upon him. 
" The peal of shouting," as a gentleman present has 
written, ** rent the air, and seemed to shake the 
very ground." During the stillness that followed, 
though every ear was attentive, not a word could 
be heard of the inaugural, except by the group 
immediately around the speaker. There was a 
tumultuous crowd at the White House afterward, 
and in the evening a general illumination. It 
seemed in the exhilaration of the hour as if all 
parties and all men joined heartily in the cry, 
" Hurrah for Jackson !" 



Jackson Looks Oict for his Friends. 295 



Lc 



CHAPTER XXX. 

PRESIDENT JACKSON LOOKS OUT FOR HIS FRIENDS 

— THE MRS. EATON COMPLICATION — WASHINGTON 

LADIES ON THE WAR-PATH — SINGULAR 

RESULTS OF THE SCANDAL. 

Great apprehensions had been inspired among 
office-holders by General Jackson's elevation to the 
Presidency. During the interval which elapsed 
between his election and his inauguration, the 
opposition newspapers had been industriously pre- 
dicting that he would turn all his opponents out of 
office to make room for his friends ; that, in fact, " a 
clean sweep might be expected." Consequently, 
every act of the new President was scanned with a 
searching scrutiny, such as terror sometimes 
inspires. 

The announcement of the new Cabinet did not 
disturb public tranquility nor add to the teiTor of 
the office-holders. With the exception of Martin 
Van Buren's nomination as Secretary of State, 
every Cabinet appointment was interpreted as a 
direct blow at Henry Clay, Samuel D. Ingham of 
Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury, had taken 
the lead in spreading abroad in his State the 
" bargain and corruption " calumn}^ Three other 
members of the new Cabinet had voted in the 
Senate against the confirmation of Henry Clay to 
the office of Secretary of State, in 1825, namely: 
Major J. H. Eaton of Tennessee, Secretary of War; 



296 General Andi^eiu Jackson. 



John M. Berrien, of Georgia, Attorney-General, 
and John Branch, of North Carolina, Secretary of 
the Navy. Mr. Van Buren, who was in the Senate 
in 1825, voted in favor of Mr. Clay's confirmation. 
The new Postmaster-General, W. T. Barry, of 
Kentucky, besides being a prominent herald of the 
" bargain and corruption" cry, had taken the lead 
in the movement which had turned Henry Clay's 
own State against him in the late election. Other 
appointments bore the same peculiarly anti-Clay 
interpretation. 

The significance of these appointments excited 
little remark at the time, and Mr. Clay himself did 
not publicly notice it. But before his departure 
from Washington, a panic began to spread among 
the office-holders in that city, many of whom had 
been appointed or promoted through his recom- 
mendation. The question was discussed among 
them with bated breath. What did the President 
mean, when he said in his inaugural address that 
the people had called him to '' the task of reform," 
" the correction of abuses," and " the counteraction 
of those causes which have disturbed the rightful 
course of appointment, and have placed or continued 
power in unfaithful or incompetent hands?" They 
were not long in discovering what these phrases 
meant. They meant a clean sweep, or, as the new 
President called it, " a complete renovation of the 
public service." About as fast as the business 
could be done, the incumbents of nearly all the 
good places under the control of the President 
were removed, to make room for men who had 
combated the slanderers of his wife and conspicu- 



m\ 



Jackson Looks Out for his Friends. 297 



ously helped to bring his Administration into 
power. Those who were removed had themselves 
helped to swell the torrent of slander against Mrs. 
Jackson, or else were the '* minions " of Henry 
Clay or some other political leader, whom President 
Jackson looked upon as an instigator of the attacks 
upon the good name of his wife. 

An office was half-forced upon Major William B. 
Lewis much against his wishes. As soon as he had 
witnessed the triumphant result of his six years* toil, 
in the inauguration of his old commander and friend, 
he announced his intention of going home to super- 
intend the labors of the planting season. " Why, 
Major," said the President, " you are not going to 
leave me here alone^ after doing more than any other 
man to get me here ?" Major Lewis could not resist 
the plea, and it was finally agreed that he should 
become one of the auditors of the Treasury, and 
retain his abode in the White House. 

A great outcry was raised by the ousted office- 
holders and their friends, and by the entire opposi- 
tion party, on account of President Jackson's " com- 
plete renovation of the public service." He was 
vehemently charged with *' corrupting the civil ser- 
vice," and to this day many people believe that the 
charge was true. But Professor Sumner, who, from 
his point of view, very properly says as little as pos- 
sible in favor of Jackson's proceedings, remarks :* 
" It is a crude and incorrect notion that Andrew Jack- 
son corrupted the civil service. The student who 
seeks to penetrate the causes of the corruption of the 

* Sumner, 147. 



298 General Andreiv Jackson, 

civil service, must go back to study the play of human 
nature under the dogmas and institutions of the 
States named [New York and Pennsylvania.] He 
cannot rest satisfied with the explanation that 
* Andrew Jackson did it.* " 

Andrew Jackson always believed in an honest and 
capable man, no matter to what party he belonged, 
and he opposed all schemes to plunder the Treasury 
which came to his knowledge. In his day it was 
customary, as in our day it is customary, for hordes 
of politicians and interested speculators to combine to 
further each other's interests at the public expense 
by means of special legislation and otherwise. Of 
all the Presidents, Jackson was the only one who had 
the courage to face this almost omnipotent interest 
and defy it. " Jackson affronted the whole interest. 
He was not able to put an end to the abuse, but he 
curtailed it. He used the exceptional strength of 
his political position to do what no one else would 
have dared to do in meeting a strong and growing 
cause of corruption. He educated his party, for 
that generation at least, up to a position of party 
hostility to special legislation of ever)' kind."* 

During the progress of his " complete renovation 
of the public service," the President was personally 
occupied with an affair which only confirmed him in 
his already passionate conviction that '' the minions 
of Mr. Clay " were men of such atrocious baseness 
that no duty could be clearer than the expulsion of 
them from the public offices. A few weeks before 
the inauguration, Senator Eaton, of Tennessee, had 

* Sumner, 194. .v^ 



'4:' 



Jackso7i Looks Out for his Friends, 299 

married Mrs. Timberlake, a pretty and vivacious 
widow, with w^hose good name the gossips of Wash- 
ington had been busy for many months. She was 
the daughter of William O'Neal, the landlord of the 
old Indian Queen Tavern in Washington. She had 
grown to womanhood in that hostelry, and was 
known to its frequenters as Peggy O'Neal, She 
married Purser Timberlake, of the Navy, and 
became the mother of two children. During her 
husband's absence at sea calumnious gossip made 
free with her name, and when, on board his ship in 
the Mediterranean, Purser Timberlake cut his throat 
after a drunken debauch, the Washington gossips 
accepted the theory that he had taken his life on 
hearing of his wife's misconduct at home. 

When the news of Purser Timberlake's death 
reached Washington, Major Eaton was, as he had 
been for some years, an inmate of the Indian Queen 
Tavern, and not indifferent to the agreeable qualities 
of the landlord's daughter. He now wished to marry 
her, but as he was about to become a member of 
General Jackson's Cabinet he began by asking the 
general's opinion of the project. The President- 
elect had been acquainted with the O'Neal family 
for thirty years, and the Indian Queen Tavern had 
always been his home in Washington. Mrs. Jackson 
had been there with him, and she became warmly 
attached to the family, and particularly so to Mrs. 
Timberlake and her sprightly children. So General 
Jackson answered ; ** Why, yes. Major ; if you love 
the woman, and she will have you, marry her by all 
means." The Senator reminded his chief of the 
scandals which had been afloat concerning the lady 



300 General Andrew Jackson. 



and himself. "Well," said the general, "your mar- 
rying her will disprove these charges and restore 
Peg's good name." 

The marriage occurred in January, 1829. A 
month later, when it was known that Senator Eaton 
was about to be appointed Secretary of War, the 
ladies who in that case would be expected to call 
upon Mrs. Eaton (formerly the Widow Timberlake, 
and, before that, Peggy O'Neal), and even concede 
to her a certain precedence in society, were deeply 
moved. 

For some weeks, the scandal was confined to the 
circle more immediately interested ; but at length it 
was brought to the notice of President Jackson him- 
self, through the agency of Rev. E. S. Ely, a distin- 
guished Presbyterian clergyman of Philadelphia. 
He was one of the oldest friends of the President, 
and he could not endure the thought of his giving 
any countenance to "a dissolute woman." Dr. Ely 
had received his information from the Rev. J. N. 
Campbell, pastor of the church in Washington 
which Mrs. Jackson and her husband had attended. 
He wrote a long letter to the President, informing 
him that the ladies of Washington would not speak 
to Mrs. Eaton and detailing a number of accusations 
of the most atrocious character, which need not be 
repeated. He solemnly called upon the President, 
for his own sake, for the sake of his departed wife, 
for the sake of his administration, for the honor of 
the gorernment and of the country, not to visit, 
receive or recognize " such a woman." 

General Jackson speedily replied to Dr. Ely, 
defending the lady with a fervor and adroitness not 



Jackson Looks OtU for his Friends, 301 



often equalled. He related the history of his own 
familiar acquaintance with the O'Neals, and showed 
the absolute improbability of the shameful stories 
about Mrs. Eaton. Mingled with his gallant and 
admirable defense of his friend's daughter were 
characteristic manifestations of his fervent antipathy 
to Henry Clay. Among other things, he said : '' I 
have not the least doubt but that every secret rumor 
is circulated by the minions of Mr. Clay for the pur- 
pose of injuring Mrs. Eaton, and through her Mr. 
Eaton; but I assure you that such conduct will 
never have my aid." 

The President's defense of Mrs. Eaton did not con- 
vince his old friend, Dr. Ely, nor his pastor, Mr. 
Campbell, nor the ladies belonging to the families 
of the other members of the Cabinet. Neither Mrs. 
Calhoun, nor Mrs. Berrien, nor Mrs. Branch, nor 
Mrs. Ingham would call upon Mrs. Eaton ; nor 
would Mrs. Donelson, the mistress of the White 
House, visit her, though obliged to receive her. 
" Anything else, uncle," she said, " I will do for you, 
but I cannot call upon Mrs. Eaton." The President 
replied : ** Then go back to Tennessee, my dear." 
She went back, and her husband, the private secre- 
tary, went with her, and they remained away six 
months. The wives of the foreign ministers were 
equally prejudiced against Mrs. Eaton, and were 
equally resolute in their refusal to associate with 
her. They, of course, were beyond the reach of the 
President's indignation, as he could not send their 
husbands home for such a reason. 

In 1848, I met scores of persons in Washington 
who professed to know all about "■ the Mrs. Eaton 



302 Gejieral Andrezv Jackson, 

Scandal." A majority of the ladies with whom 1 
conversed on the subject believed that Mrs. Eaton 
was " a good-for-nothing- creature," but the gentle- 
men usually spoke in her favor. The person with 
whom I talked most on the subject was the son 
(then twenty-two years old) of one of the " Cabinet 
ladies " who would not associate with Mrs. Eaton. 
He had heard his parents and their friends discuss the 
subject hundreds of times, and he said they were 
still in the habit of talking about it. The impression 
made on his mind by what he had thus heard was 
that Mrs. Eaton was a bad woman ; at any rate, his 
mother *' hated the very sound of her name." This 
was not unnatural, as his mother's behavior toward 
Mrs. Eaton had led to his father's removal from the 
Cabinet. 

It so chanced that Mr. Van Buren, the Secretary 
of State, who was a widower without daughters, 
having been detained by business connected with 
the governorship of New York, which he had just 
resigned, did not arrive in Washington until three 
weeks after the inauguration of President Jackson. 
Being thus free to act according to his own convic- 
tions, and satisfied of Mrs. Eaton's innocence, he 
called upon her as a matter of course, and treated 
her with the particular, the marked, the emphasized 
respect which he felt to be due to h^^r as a victim of 
atrocious slander. 

It also happened that Mr. Vaughn, the British 
minister, a particular friend of Mr. Van Buren's, 
and Baron Krudener, the Russian minister, were 
both unmarried men. Each of these three gentle- 
men made parties expressly for Mrs. Eaton, at Avhich 



Jackson Looks Ont for his Friends. 303 



they exhibited for her every possible mark of 
esteem. They did not succeed in overcoming in 
the slightest degree the repugnance of the Wash- 
ington ladies, but they did succeed in gratifying 
General Jackson to the utmost degree. Mr. Van 
Buren, in particular, completely captivated the 
President, and did this, as all who knew him inti- 
mately would readily believe, without being guilty 
of the slightest insincerity. He thought his friend's 
wife had been foully maligned, as doubtless she had 
been, and he gladly seconded every effort of the 
President to vindicate her good name. In doing 
this, besides winning the President's warmest regard, 
he pleased and won Major Eaton, the President's 
special friend in the Cabinet ; also Mrs. Eaton and 
her mother, both old friends of General Jackson's. 
He also gave great satisfaction to Major Lewis, who 
lived in the White House, the constant companion 
of the President, and who was nearly connected 
with Major Eaton by marriage. 

The friendship of all these influential persons 
drew with it all the more particular and intimate 
adherents of the President — the inner Jacksonian 
circle, notably Amos Kendall, of Kentucky, and Isaac 
Hill, of New Hampshire. Daniel Webster's amus- 
ing comment upon these events and signs of the 
times Avas very far from being a jest : 

"Mr. Van Buren," he wrote in January, 1830, 
" has evidently quite the lead in influence and 
importance. . . It is odd enough, but too evident 
to be doubted, that the consequences of this dispute 
in the social and fashionable world are producing 



304 



General Andrew Jackson, 



great political effects, mid may determine who shall be 
successor to the present Chief Magistrate y 

Mr. Webster's prediction was far more prophetic 
than even he supposed it was when he made it. 



4 



War Upon the United States Bank. 305 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE WAR UPON THE UNITED STATES BANK— FORE- 
SHADOWING OF NULLIFICATION — PRESIDENT 
JACKSON READY FOR ANYTHING. 

'' The United States Bank War," though a blood- 
less contest, was one of the bitterest wars that ever 
raged on the American continent. It convulsed 
society, as well as business and politics, from one 
end of the Union to the other. Millions of people 
verily believed that it would be impossible for the 
country to get along without a United States Bank. 
" Destroy the Bank and you destroy the country," 
was an adage of the time. 

The first Bank of the United States was chartered 
in 1791, and was to continue till March 4, i8ir. 
There was much contention on the subject, and 
Andrew Jackson became strongly prejudiced against 
a United States Bank. An effort was made to 
re-charter the old Bank in Febuary, 18 11, but the 
bill was defeated in the Senate by the casting vote 
of Vice-President Clinton. During the War of 1812, 
the finances of the government and of the country 
got into such a deplorable condition that a new 
Bank of the United States was suggested as a 
remedy. A bill chartering the second Bank of the 
United States was passed by Congress in 18 16. The 
Bank went into operation January 7, 18 17, and was 
to continue till March 3, 1836. 

In 1829, Avhen Andrew Jackson succeeded to the 



3o6 General Andrew Jackson. 



Presidency, the United States Bank, situated in 
Philadelphia, with twenty-five branches in other 
important centers of business, was an important and 
imposing institution. Its capital was thirty-five 
million dollars. The government balance of public 
money deposited in the Bank averaged nearly seven 
millions ; the private deposits more than six millions. 
Its bank-note circulation was twelve millions. It 
discounted notes to the amount of forty millions a 
year, upon which it made a profit of three millions. 
At the parent Bank in Philadelphia there were a 
hundred clerks, and each of the branches had its 
president, cashier and board of directors, besides 
employed persons in the twenty -five branches to the 
number of four hundred, the greater part of whom 
were men of standing and influence, enjoying com- 
pensation which was liberal for that day. The notes 
of the bank were current everywhere without dis- 
count, and often commanded a small premium at 
remote cities, such as Calcutta, Canton, St. Peters- 
burg and Cairo. The stock of the Bank was con- 
sidered an investment highly desirable and perfectly 
safe. The Bank was governed by twenty-five 
directors, five of whom were appointed by the 
President of the United States. Besides the national 
character thus imparted to it, the Bank received and 
disbursed the whole revenue of the nation. Its 
president was Nicholas Biddle, a man of highly 
attractive personality, fluent with tongue and pen, 
of honorable and generous sentiments, and 
abundantly competent to manage the Bank in 
ordinary times. 

The ancient opposition to any United States Bank, 



War Upon the Uiiited States Baiik, 307 

well-founded and sufficient as it was, appeared to 
have exhausted itself in 1829, and Andrew Jackson 
himself seemed to have outlived his former prej- 
udice against it. It is absolutely certain that he 
came to Washington with no thought or purpose 
concerning the Bank in his mind. The charter had 
still seven years to run. 

The first dealings of the Administration with the 
Bank were unusually cordial and satisfactory. The 
Bank went out of its way to oblige the Secretary of 
the Treasury, who thanked it for the accommodat- 
ing spirit it had shown, and this he did with very 
marked emphasis, and more than once. In a word, 
despite theoretical objections and old prejudice, the 
new Administration accepted the United States 
Bank as part and parcel of the governmental system 
of the United States, just as they did the post- 
office and the consular service. 

Nevertheless, during this first summer of the 
Presidential term, a storm was brewing against 
the Bank in far-off New Hampshire, unnoticed, 
which proved to have in it the elements of a 
cyclone of irresistible and destructive force. 

Editor Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, then 
Second Comptroller of the Treasur}^ was a person 
hio^h in the confidence of the President. He had a 
rooted hostility against Jeremiah Mason, the presi- 
dent of the Branch of the United States Bank at 
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The president of 
every bank is compelled by his position to make 
enemies, because he is continually obliged to dis- 
criminate among business men and to say No to 
persons whose prosperity and solvency may depend 



J 



08 Ge7ie7^al Andrew Jackson. 



upon his saying Yes. Isaac Hill and his party 
friends charged and believed that Jeremiah Mason 
had conducted his Branch Bank in a manner that 
was "partial, harsh, novel, and injurious to the 
interests of the Bank, destructive to the business of 
Portsmouth and offensive to the whole com- 
munit}'." 

These and other accusations coming officially to 
the knowledge of Nicholas Biddle, he went to 
Portsmouth, spent six days in the investigation of 
the charges, and satisfied himself that they were 
groundless. He was also convinced that Mason 
was in all respects a model bank president. Mr. 
Biddle concluded a letter to the Secretary of the 
Treasury on the results of his investigations at 
Portsmouth with a foolish passage which the 
Administration interpreted and accepted as a 
defiance. The directors of the bank, he said, did 
not " acknowledge the slightest responsibility of 
any description whatsoever to the Secretary of the 
Treasury touching the political opinions and con- 
duct of their officers, that being a subject on which 
they never consult and never desire to know the 
views of any Administration." He further inti- 
mated, with sufficient plainness, the intention of the 
directors to manage the bank according to their 
own judgment, and not to permit any ** interference 
in the concerns of the institution confided to their 
care." 

How repeatedly have disastrous consequences 
flowed from seemingly insignificant circumstances! 
This foolish rhetorical flourish of Mr. Biddle's too 



War Upon the U7iited States Bank. 309 



facile pen was the proximate cause of the destruction 
of the United States Bank. 

From the days of Alexander Hamilton, Andrew 
Jackson had had a strong- antipathy to a United 
States Bank, which had slumbered during- recent 
years ; but on reading the voluminous correspond- 
ence between Mr. Biddle and the Secretary of the 
Treasury, his antipathy instantly awoke, never to 
slumber again as long as the Bank existed. He 
was surrounded, too, by men whose opposition to 
the Bank was only less decided than his own. 

In his next annual message to Congress, the 
President began the war on the United States Bank 
which did not cease until that overshadowing insti- 
tution was destroyed. The contention led to many 
important political changes ; among others, to the 
election of Isaac Hill as United States Senator from 
New Hampshire; to the deserting by the United 
States Telegraph of the Administration, of which it 
had been the organ, and to the founding of the 
Washmgton Globe as the new organ of the Adminis- 
tration, with Francis P. Blair as its editor. Mr. 
Blair, one of the most powerful political writers of 
that time, was brought on specially from Kentucky 
to take charge of the new organ, which he con- 
ducted with consummate ability. The Globe was 
surprisingly successful from the issue of its first 
number, and gave the Administration a skillful and 
powerful support, which was of incalculable value. 

As an offset to this important acquisition, Henry 
Clay, in 1831, returned to the Senate. The brilliant 
orator at once provided Mr. Blair with inexhausti- 
ble editorial topics. It was Henry Clay who 



3IO Gene7^al Andrew Jackson. 

induced the Bank to apply for the renewal of its 
charter in 183 1, so that it should enter as an issue 
into the Presidential election of 1832. The wisest 
friends of the bank said : " No ; let us keep it out 
of the Presidential contest ; let us wait until we 
have a friend in the Presidential chair." The impet- 
uous Clay, never a tractable nor a skillful politician, 
thought otherwise. Pennsylvania, as he truly 
remarked, had been and still was the stronghold of 
the Jackson party, and the Bank was located in 
Pennsylvania. Congress would certainly pass the 
bill renewing the charter. If the President vetoed 
it the great controlling State of Pennsylvania would 
unquestionably abandon him. If he should sign it, 
he would be fatally weakened in the South and 
West. The mistake in this reasoning was in sup- 
posing that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania were 
politically synonymous ; whereas they had very lit- 
tle in common, and there was even some political 
antipathy on the part of the great body of Pennsyl- 
vania farmers to the chief city of their common- 
wealth. 

The impregnable strength of Jackson rested on 
his honesty and the soundness of his financial views. 
Biddle's financial theories were unsound, and the 
distressing exigencies of his situation led him to 
deviate into unsound practises. He countenanced 
enormous issues of drafts by the Branch Banks, 
which were to be and were used as currency. They 
were in fact the counterpart of bank-notes. They 
were drawn on the parent Bank for even sums 
($5, $10, or $20,) by the cashier of any branch, to the 
order of some officer of the Branch Bank, endorsed 



Foreshadowing of Nullification, 3 1 1 

by the latter to bearer, and then circulated like bank- 
notes. The amount of these drafts at one time 
amounted to seven millions four hundred thousand 
dollars. A high authority says : " Great conse- 
quences hung on the strait into which the branch 
drafts had pushed the Bank, and this measure of 

relief to which Biddle had recourse. Biddle was 
too plausible. In any emergency he was ready to 

write a letter or report, to smooth things over and 
present a good face in spite of facts. Any one who 
has carefully studied the History of the Bank, and 
Biddle's statements, will come to every statement of 
his with a disagreeable sense of suspicion."* 

Biddle asserted that the Bank stood between the 
country and financial ruin. ** The whole policy of 
the Bank for the last six months," he wrote in 1832, 
" has been exclusively protective and conservative, 
calculated to mitigate suffering and yet avert dan- 
ger." As Professor Sumner says: " He sketches out 
in broad and bold outlines the national and inter- 
national relations of American industry and com- 
merce and the financial relations of the Treasury, 
with the Bank enthroned over all as the financial 
providence of the country. . . However, it was all 
humbug, and especially that part which represented 
the Bank as watching over and caring for the pub- 
lic. . . If the Bank had been strong, Biddle's 
explanations would all have been meretricious ; as 
it was, the Bank had been quite fully occupied in 
1831-32 in taking care of itself, mitigating its own 
sufferings and averting its own dangers."t 

. • * Sumner's Life of Jackson, 269. t Ibid. 270, 271. 



''1 2 General Andrew Jackson, 



J 



The bill rechartering the Bank of the United 
States, after a debate of great ability and occasional 
violence, and an excitement out of doors seldom 
created by a financial measure, was passed by the 
House of Representatives, July 3, 1832, by a vote of 
109 to 'j6. It had previously passed the Senate by a 
vote of 28 to 20. It was presented to the President for 
his consideration on the Fourth of July. Six days 
after he returned it to Congress, vetoed. He 
accompanied the unsigned bill with one of the long- 
est and one of the most ingenious messages ever sent 
to Congress. Never did a public document have 
such a strange fortune as this message, for it was 
circulated by each party as a campaign bombshell 
that would be fatal to the opposition. It was viewed 
by some of the leading partisans of Mr. Clay with 
the most sincere and complete contempt, as a vulgar 
explosion of ignorance, prejudice and hate. Nicholas 
Biddle, the president of the bank, appears to have 
been as truly delighted with it as he said he was. In 
reply to Henry Clay, who had asked him what he 
thought the effect of the Veto Message would be, he 
replied that it was working as well as the friends of 
the Bank could desire. 

" It has all the fury of a chained panther biting 
the bars of his cage, and my hope is that it will con- 
tribute to relieve the country from the dominion 
of these miserable people. You are destined to be the 
instrument of that deliverance, and at no period of 
your life has the country ever had a deeper stake in 
you." 

On the other hand, the message was circulated 
through the agency of the office holders in every part 



Foreshadowing of Ntdlification. 3 1 3 



of the country, and everywhere it came with con- 
vincing power to the farmer and the artisan. Every- 
thing that was done by either party helped to make 
the people lamiliar with the message, and the more 
familiar with it they became, the more powerfully it 
drew them to the support of President Jackson. 

During this Presidential term, the great debate 
took place between Mr. Webster and Colonel 
Hayne, of South Carolina, on the nature of the Con- 
stitution of the United States and the fundamental 
character of our Government. It was in that debate 
that the great parliamentary battle between Seces- 
sion and Unionism was fought. Extraordinary 
interest was imparted to the debate by the magni- 
tude of the vital issues involved, and the unexampled 
power and splendor of Webster's argument. No 
President ever followed the proceedings of Con- 
gress with keener interest than Andrew Jackson. 
No matter how late the House sat, he would never 
go to sleep until Major Lewis or his secretary had 
returned from the Capitol, and given him the sub- 
stance of the proceedings. He was deeply stirred 
by this famous discussion. His personal sympathies 
were with Colonel Hayne, the brother of the excel- 
lent and valiant soldier who had served under 
him in the Creek War and at New Orleans; nor 
did the President yet believe that the nullifiers had 
a serious purpose. As the debate went on he felt 
more acutely the fallacy of some portions of Mr. 
Hayne's argument. 

" Well," said he one evening to Major Lewis^ 
" and how is Webster getting on ?" 

" He is delivering a most powerful speech," said 



'> 



14 General Andrew Jackson. 



Lewis. "" I am afraid he is demolishing our friend 
Hayne." 

** I expected it," said the President. 

And soon after, when the State-rights men had 
their grand banquet, ostensibly in honor of Thomas 
Jefferson's birthday, two remarkable and ever mem- 
orable toasts were given ; one by the President of 
the United States,, and the other by Vice-President 
Calhoun. The President gave : 

'' Our Federal Union : it must be preserved." 

Mr. Calhoun offered the following : 

"The Union: next to our liberty, the most dear; 
may we all remember that it can only be preserved 
by respecting the rights of the States, and distribut- 
ing equally the benefit and burden of the Union." 



Jackso7is Choice of a Successor. 3 i 5 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

PRESIDENT JACKSON'S CHOICE OF A SUCCESSOR— RUP- 
TURE WITH CALHOUN— PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 
OF 1832— ANYTHING TO BEAT JACKSON— HIS 
TRIUMPHANT RE-ELECTION. 

Like other Presidents-elect, Andrew Jackson went 
to Washington in 1S29 expecting and intending to 
serve but one term. He was then sixty-two years 
of age, a sick, infirm, bereaved and suffering man, 
consoled and sustained chiefly by the presence of 
his Tennessee relations and neighbors. 

At that time there were two friends of his, of emi- 
nent note and long public service, who might 
rationally indulge the expectation of being preferred 
by him as a successor. These were Mr. Calhoun 
and Mr. Van Buren, two of the babies born in 1782, 
and both now in the prime of their years. To both 
of them it must have been apparent that the prefer- 
ence of a President so intrenched in popularity as 
Andrew Jackson would go far toward deciding who 
should take his place in 1833. This was more 
apparent when the offices throughout the whole 
country had been filled with Jackson men. 

Before any one had given much thought to the 
matter the Eaton scandal had divided the new cabi- 
net into two hostile parties, equal in number — three 
to three. Van Buren, Eaton and Barry sustained 
Mrs. Eaton ; Ingham, Berrien and Branch, all mar- 
ried men, owing to the hostility of their wives to 



3i6 General Andrew Jackson. 



Mrs. Eaton, could not avoid the appearance of siding 
against her. Mrs. Calhoun, too, refused to call upon 
the lady, which involved the Vice-President himself 
in the affair ; and it happened that the three anti- 
Eatonians, Ingraham, Berrien and Branch, were Mr. 
Calhoun's political friends and allies. 

At once, therefore, before the first few weeks 
passed by, the President cooled toward Calhoun 
and warmed toward Van Buren. As time went on 
the coolness became hostility, and the warmth 
kindled into a decided and ev*en passionate prefer- 
ence. Van Buren was a singularly bland and good- 
natured man, and understood perfectly the art of 
" getting along with " a masterful and fiery spirit 
like Jackson, who soon became perfectly at home 
with him. He began to speak of him to his familiar 
friends as *' Van," and was heard sometimes to 
address him as '* Matty." He liked and relished 
his company to an extraordinary degree. 

Moreover, as an old-fashioned Democrat reared in 
the school of Jefferson, the Secretary of State was 
in perfect accord with the President on the Bank 
question, and agreed with him in opposing all the 
movements and doctrines that gave any semblance 
of strength to the nuUifiers. Calhoun, on the con- 
trary, was ominously silent on the Bank, and was 
openly hostile to the protective tariff, which he had 
so warmly supported in 1816. He would not hear 
of any tariff compromise. When he was asked as to 
the disposal of the surplus revenue, on the near 
extinguishment of the public debt, his only reply 
was that there should be no surplus. The tariff 



■ V. 



-Sb 



Jackson^ s Choice of a Successor. 3 1 j 



must be reduced until the surplus had disap- 
peared. 

During the whole of the year 1829, the excite- 
ments of his new situation told severely upon the 
long ago weakened health of the President. In 
December, Major Lewis, his familiar and constant 
associate, almost despaired of his life, and the Presi- 
dent himself felt how slight a hold he had upon 
existence. The two old neighbors conversed upon 
this subject with the utmost freedom, not without 
reference to the alarming prospect that, in case of 
the President's death, he would be succeeded by a 
Vice-President who was opposed to his policy on 
every leading point. Major Lewis, too, took the 
deepest interest in having Mr. Van Buren succeed 
General Jackson, and he talked frankly upon this 
subject also to the President. 

" It occurred to me," he once wrote, " that Gen- 
eral Jackson's name, though he might be dead, 
would prove a powerful lever if judiciously used, in 
raising Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency. I there- 
fore determined to get the general, if possible, to 
write a letter to vSome friend to be used at the next 
succeeding Presidential election (in case of his death) 
expressive of the confidence he reposed ih Mr. Van 
Buren's abilities, patriotism and qualifications for 
any station, even the highest within the gift of the 
people." 

The general consenting, such a letter was written 
to Judge John Overton, of Tennessee (Jackson's 
second in the Dickinson duel), who, however, lived 
and died without knowing the purpose for which 
this letter was written. It extolled Mr. Van Buren 



3i8 General Andrezv Jackson. 



as the " dear friend " of the President ; a man, open, 
candid and manly ; republican in his principles, and 
a true friend of the people. The President wished 
he could say as much for Mr. Calhoun, but he could 
not, and he had a right to believe that " most of the 
troubles, vexations and difficulties I have had to 
encounter since my arrival in this city, have been 
occasioned by his friends." Moreover, Mr. Calhoun 
was factiously opposed to the special objects of the 
Administration. This letter had all the appearance 
of a private and casual communication, but carefully 
attested copies were made of it and put away among 
the private papers of Major Lewis. 

The President rallied during the early months of 
1830. His health was so greatly benefited by the 
bracing winter of the capital that the Overton device 
passed out of memory, as the question of the succes- 
sion became more interesting. Upon one point the 
President was now fully resolved, that neither Clay 
nor Calhoun should ever occupy the Presidential 
chair, if he could prevent it. There appears to have 
been an unrecorded programme arranged, that 
extended far beyond the next Presidential election. 
It was an " understood thing " between the President 
and his most confidential Iriends, that he should be 
succeeded by Martin Van Buren, and Van Buren by 
Colonel Benton, which it was thought would carry 
the matter beyond the public life of Clay and Cal- 
houn. 

The first steps toward the execution of this pro- 
gramme were taken as early as March, j^8\i. A 
series of adroit political manoeuvres followed, by 
which, in due time, Andrew Jackson was placed 



I 



Presidential Election ^1832. 319 



before the people as a candidate for re-election to 
the Presidency in 1832. 

A few weeks later occurred the momentous rup- 
ture between the President and the Vice-President. 
At a dinner-party in the White House, given in 
honor of ex-President Monroe, Major Lewis chanced 
to learn that, in 1819, it was Calhoun, not Crawford, 
who had expressed the opinion in the Cabinet that 
General Jackson's conduct in the Seminole War 
ought to be submitted to a court of inquiry. A long 
correspondence between the President and Vice- 
President followed this discovery, in which Mr. 
Calhoun vigorously but inaptly strove to avert the 
serious blow to his ambitious hopes, with which he 
saw himself menaced. The President, already 
estranged from him, would not be appeased, and 
ended the correspondence by announcing that their 
friendly relations were at an end. 

I]»'il&^, the Vice-President published the corres- 
pondence in a voluminous pamphlet, accompanying 
it with temperate explanatory remarks, in which he 
appealed to the people of the United States as their 
common judge, or court of last appeal. The Presi- 
dent retorted by retiring to private life Mr. Cal- 
houn's three political allies in the Cabinet ; a change 
which he effected by a series of adroit and audacious 
movements. First, Major Eaton resigned^ alleging 
that he had accepted the office of Secretary of War 
only in deference to the wishes of the President, 
and but for a short time. As everything was now 
going on so prosperously, he thought the time for 
his withdrawal had come. The President accepted 
his resignation with cordial expressions of gratitude 



^20 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackso7i, 



and esteem, and appointed him Governor of Florida. 
Five years later the Batons went abroad, Mr. Eaton 
having been commissioned to represent the United 
States at the court of Spain. 

Mr. Van Buren resigned next, in an elaborate 
letter, which was replied to by the President with 
affectionate warmth. Mr. Van Buren went abroad 
ere long as Minister to England. The President 
then asked for the resignation of Messrs. Ingham, 
Berrien and Branch, on the simple ground that he 
deemed it best to " entirely renew " his Cabinet. 

Edward Livingston, Senator from Louisiana, who 
had been notified beforehand of these events, and 
had agreed to accept the place of Secretary of State, 
now received the appointment. Louis McLane, 
Minister to England, was recalled and placed at the 
head of the Treasury. Levi Woodbury was made 
Secretary of the Navy, and Lewis Cass, so long 
governor of Michigan Territory, was appointed 
Secretary of War. Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, 
a lawyer of great eminence, was appointed Attorney- 
General. This change in the Cabinet, a thing 
which had never before occurred in the midst of a 
Presidential term, since the formation of the govern- 
ment, created an excitement throughout the country 
difficult for us now to imagine, and soon after the 
long-smothered scandal concerning Mrs. Eaton 
burst into publicity. 

The acute disappointment of Mr. Calhoun pro- 
duced peculiar and ominous excitement in South 
Carolina. In the course of the summer of 1831, Mr. 
Calhoun published an address of inordinate length, 
avowing himself a believer in the doctrine of nuUi- 



Presidential Electio7t of 1832. 



o 



21 



fication. Threatening paragraphs accompanied and 
followed it, to the eflect that, unless the protective 
tariff were promptly modified, South Carolina 
would refuse to pay it on goods imported in her 
harbors. 

As had often happened before, the President's 
action in changing his Cabinet gratified many of his 
opponents, and somewhat alarmed his more timid 
adherents. We find Mr. Clay writing of it in this 
manner: 

" Who could have imagined such a cleansing of 
the Augean stables at Washington, a change almost 
total of the Cabinet ? Our cause cannot fail to be 
benefited by the measure. It is a broad confession 
of the incompetency of the President's chosen 
advisers, no matter from what cause, to carry on 
the business of the government. I think we are 
authorized to anticipate confidently General Jack- 
son's defeat." Daniel Webster was not so confident, 
and he proved to understand the situation better 
than his popular colleague. 

Early in the following session of the Senate, the 
nominations of the new Cabinet officers came before 
it for confirmation, and they were all confirmed 
without serious opposition. But when it came to 
that of Mr. Van Buren for Minister to England, 
Clay, Webster and Calhoun united in a movement 
to defeat it. Mr. Calhoun erroneously attributed to 
Mr. Van Buren the intrigue which had resulted in 
the President's hostility to himself. He believed, 
also, that the dissolution of the Cabinet was wholly 
Van Buren's contrivance. Clay and Webster were 
of opinion that Van Buren was the author of the 



32 2 Ge7ieral Andrew Jackson, 

alleged new policy which conferred the public 
offices upon members of the dominant party. This, 
also, was an error. At that time there was no man 
living who had the Roman courage and virtue 
requisite for the thorough enforcement of such a 
system except Andrew Jackson. A pretext was 
found for rejecting Mr. Van Buren in one of his 
dispatches to the Secretary of State, and he was 
rejected accordingly. 

Fifty-one days, as Colonel Benton records, were 
spent in the preliminary intrigue, but the debate 
upon it lasted but two days. It was in this brief 
discussion that Governor Marcy, of New York, 
used an expression which has never since been for- 
gotten, and is not likely to be. He was defending 
Van Buren from the charge of having incited the 
President to conduct the national government on 
the principles long practiced in New York. 

" The politicians of New York," said Marcy, 
** boldly preach what they practice. When they are 
contending for victory they avow their intention of 
enjoying the fruits of it. If they are defeated, they 
expect to retire from office ; if they are successful, 
they claim as a matter of right the advantages of 
success. They see nothing wrong in the rule that 
to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy J' 

Mr. Van Buren found many able and brilliant 
defenders on this occasion, both within and without 
the Senate chamber. When the vote rejecting his 
nomination was announced. Colonel Benton turned 
to a friend and said : " You have broken a minister 
and elected a Vice-President." On the day that 
the news reached London Mr. Van Buren was a 



't\ 



Presidential Election ^1832. 323 



guest of Prince Talleyrand, who then represented 
the King of the French at the British court. Lord 
Auckland, an experienced politician said to him : 
" It is an advantage to a public man to be the sub- 
ject of an outrage." Colonel Benton reports a 
remark of Mr. Calhoun's on the event which shows 
how imperfectly the great Nullifier comprehended 
the political situation at the time. 

*'I heard Mr. Calhoun say," records Benton, 'Uo 
one of his doubting friends: * It will kill him, sir, 
kill him dead ; he will never kick, sir; never kick.' 
And the alacrity with which he gave the casting 
votes on the two occasions, both vital, on which 
they were put into his hands, attested the sincerity 
of his belief and his readiness for the work." 

Seldom has even an ambitious politician been 
more mistaken than Mr. Calhoun was in this matter, 
for this rejection by the Senate strengthened Mr. 
Van Buren's position very greatly and in every 
way. It became from that hour the President's 
ruling object to secure his elevation, and the whole 
Jackson party embraced his cause with renewed 
earnestness. The consolatory letters which 
reached him by every mail gave him opportunity 
for highly effective replies, by which he contributed 
almost as much to the triumph of his chief as to his 
own. . 

The question at once arose by what machinery of 
politics Mr. Van Buren should be presented to the 
people as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. The 
device selected was that of a national convention, 
which accordingly was held at Baltimore on May 
2ist, 1832. Three hundred and twenty-six dele- 



324 General Andrew Jackson. 

gates were present at this convention, the great 
majority of whom were office-holders, or friends 
representing office-holders. Judge Overton, of 
Tennessee, had been selected as the permanent pre- 
siding officer, but he was prevented from attending 
by his infirmities. The business of the convention 
was done with the utmost ease and dispatch. On 
the first ballot, Martin Van Buren received 260 
votes ; P. P. Barbour, 40 ; R. M. Johnston, 26. 
The convention then adjourned without publishing 
any platform of principles, or issuing an address to 
the people. The nomination was truly the act of 
the President. Major Lewis personally informed 
Mr. Parton, that, on learning by chance at the last 
moment that one of the delegates (Major Eaton), 
just arrived from abroad, intended to oppose the 
nomination, he wrote to him " warning him of the 
danger of such a course, unless he was prepared to 
quarrel with the general^ Major Lewis adds that 
this delegate fortunately received his letter "• in 
time to save himself, and perhaps Van Buren, also." 

Thus the Democratic candidates presented were 
Jackson and Van Buren. Those of the Whigs, as 
the opposition were beginning to be called, were 
Henry Clay and John Sergeant. The anti-Mason 
party nominated William Wirt, of Maryland, and 
William Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania. It is a curious 
instance of the blindness of political leaders that 
Henry Clay felt more apprehension on account of 
the supposed popularity of this new party than he 
felt from the party which supported Jackson and 
Van Buren. 

Clay belonged to the school of statesmen who 



Presidential Election of i St, 2. 325 



believe in '* paternal government," and think they 
can do better for the people than the people can do 
for themselves. That is to say, at bottom, instead of 
wishing for '* a government of the people, by the 
people, for the people," those paternal statesmen 
want government of the people, by statesmen, for 
statesmen. Clay's arrogance in this respect repeat- 
edly gave offense to the masses, and the Jacksonians 
took good care that it should do him as much 
injury as possible. 

The Presidential campaign of 1832, which was in 
some respects the most important election of the 
kind that had ever occurred, called forth an amount 
and variety of effort probably never equaled in a 
similar contest. The Jackson men again employed 
the popular device of erecting hickory poles, which 
called together vast concourses of enthusiastic 
voters. The Whigs gave sumptuous banquets and 
made eloquent speeches. The Anti-Masons sought 
to congeal the blood of the people by their 
portrayals of the alleged secret horrors of Free 
Masonry. 

The real issues of the struggle were by no means 
overlooked. The United States Bank, the necessity 
of modifying the tariff in order to reduce the 
revenue, the threats of Nullification in South 
Carolina, the removal of the Cherokees beyond the 
Mississippi, and the President's vetoes of internal 
improvement bills, were discussed with sufficient 
coolness and ability to make it plain to the dis- 
passionate voter, that, all things considered, it had 
become a necessity of the time to sustain Andrew 
Jackson, in order to secure the welfare of the 



326 General And7'ew Jackson, 



country, and perhaps to save the Union from destruc- 
tion. And Andrew Jackson was re-elected President 
of the United States by a majority which exceeded 
the anticipations of the most sanguine Democrats. 
Out of 288 electoral votes (then the whole number) 
he received 219, leaving only 69 for distribution 
among the opposing candidates. 

Having been thus overwhelmingly sustained by 
the people, President Jackson entered upon his 
second term more resolute than ever to settle firmly 
and sternly all the issues between him and his oppo- 
nents. The result was that his second term was the 
most exciting and eventful Administration which the 
United States had ever known. 



The Rise and Fall of Nullificalion. 327 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE RISE AND FALL OF NULLIFICATION. 

The second term of Andrew Jackson's Presidency 
was exciting and eventful. Public affairs had never 
before absorbed so continuously the attention of the 
people. It seemed as if all eyes were directed 
toward the capital, where the antagonists of the 
President gave him abundant opportunities of 
exhibiting all his strongest and some of his most 
attractive traits. There were times when he 
appeared to have conquered all opposition and stood 
forth in the eyes of the people as the manifest savior 
of his country. 

First of all, Calhoun and the nuUifiers of South 
Carolina drew his fire. In 1832, the public debt 
having been so nearly reduced as to make it certain 
that during the next two years the last payment 
would be made, the necessity of reducing the reve- 
nue was obviously becoming imperative. The 
moment the last year's payment was completed, the 
public revenue would be more than twice as great 
as the needs of the government, then about thirteen 
millions per annum. There were three plans of 
relief in 1832 before the country: i. Henry Clay's 
bill to abolish the duties on raw material, while 
preserving the protective system otherwise intact. 
2. The President's plan, which was to do all that 
Mr. Clay proposed and as much more as the case 
required, or nearly as much, and to divide the sur- 



^28 Gene7^al Andrew Jackson. 



o 



plus revenue, if there should be any, among the 
States. 3. The demand of John C. Calhoun, which 
included the total abandonment of the protective 
principle, as unconstitutional, oppressive and, in the 
long run, injurious to business. 

Mr. Calhoun's ground was one which a reasonable 
statesman could stand upon if he supported it in the 
republican method and spirit by argument alone. 
But Calhoun accompanied his argument with 
threats. He gave the country to understand that, 
if the duties were not promptly reduced to the reve- 
nue standard. South Carolina would nullify the acts 
of Congress imposing them, refuse to pay the duties, 
and import her merchandise from foreign countries 
at her own ports free of all duty. 

The State-rights theory, from which Mr. Calhoun 
sophistically deduced " the constitutional right of 
nullification, " has its origin in desires and aspira- 
tions which are inherent in the nature of man. 
Every human being wishes to be free, and to enjoy 
his inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness with the least possible interference by 
society or the State. This trait of character, this 
passion of the human heart has always been strong 
in the British people — English, Scotch, Welsh, and 
Irish — by whom the thirteen original States were 
colonized. The descendants of the original colon- 
ists inherited their love of personal and political 
liberty, and cherished it with passionate devotion ; 
they fought for it ; for it they risked their lives and 
fortunes and staked their sacred honor. For a 
hundred and fifty years they contended for it 
against British kings, British parliaments and British 



The Rise and Fall of Nullification, 329 



courts. They suffered much from kingly tyranny, 
from parliamentary tyranny, from judicial tyranny, 
and were therefore keenly jealous of executive power, 
of legislative power, and of judicial power. So sen- 
sitive had they become and so deep and unchange- 
able were their convictions on this vital subject 
that, although they thereby imperilled their success 
in the Revolutionary struggle, they refused to give 
the Continental Congress or the old Confederation 
sufficient executive power to carry its own legisla- 
tion into effect. It could recommend lines of action 
to the States, but it could not enforce its recom- 
mendations. 

It may be expedient to remind readers whose 
memories have become rusty as to these matters, 
that after weary years of trial and experiment the 
States [discovered that, under the Confederation, 
they could not unify their independent powers and 
bring them to bear with sufficient effect to command 
the respect of foreign governments and protect their 
commerce against foreign aggression; that they 
could not satisfactorily adjust their internal commer- 
cial relations or any inter-State interests which were 
drawn into dispute ; that the people could not enjoy 
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on strictly 
State-rights principles except within the boundariea 
of their respective States, although it often hap. 
pened that inhabitants of one State had to pursue 
their happiness into another State, where, being 
aliens, they had no State rights, and therefore could 
not enforce their happiness. They discovered, in 
short, that they were encumbered with an inadequate 
government, under which they could not form a 



330 General A^idrew Jackson, 

more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domes- 
tic tranquility, provide for the common defense, 
promote the general welfare, nor secure the bless- 
ings of liberty to themselves and their posterity. 
The pressure of this deplorable condition led to the 
calling of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, for 
the purpose of instituting, if possible, a Federal 
Government which, without trenching on the rights 
of the States, should have sufficient delegated power 
to perform all those general governmental functions 
which its creators (the several States) should assign 
to it. But as soon as the Convention got under way 
it was found that the formation of such a govern- 
ment was seemingly impossible. The States were 
so jealous and tenacious of their rights that rather 
than part with enough of them to give supreme 
power to the Federal Government which they were 
trying to create, they preferred to go on as best they 
could, as disunited States, without a Federal Gov- 
ernment. Little by little, however, their jealousies 
and prejudices and fears were overcome. With 
what difficulty this result was attained can be learned 
only by studying the proceedings of the Constitu- 
tional Convention and the discussions which fol- 
lowed the submission of the Constitution to the 
people for adoption or rejection. 

In considering this subject, it should be remem- 
bered that every one of tue original thirteen States 
was an independent sovereignty or nation, com- 
pletely endowed with national rights and powers ; 
whereas, the Federal Government which they 
wished to create for certain specific and limited 
purposes would have no powers whatever, and in 



The Rise and Fall of Ntdliji cation, 331 



the nature of things could not have any powers 
whatever, except such powers as its creators (the 
sovereign States) should delegate to it. Those 
delegated powers were to be exercised, not for the 
benefit of the Federal Government and in accor- 
dance with its own arbitrary will, but for the equal 
benefit of the sovereign States which created it, and 
in accordance with the terms of J:he Constitution 
whereby and wherein those powers were delegated. 
The powers delegated to the Federal Government 
comprise such governmental functions as the States 
themselves could not separately perform. For 
example : It was essential that money should be 
coined which would be legal tender in every State. 
No State could coin such money, so the power to 
coin it was delegated to the Federal Government. 
It was necessary that navigation laws regulating 
foreign commerce and also inter-State commerce 
should be enacted. No State could enact such laws ; 
therefore the power to enact them was delegated to 
the Federal Government. It was necessary to 
negotiate treaties with foreign nations which should 
bind all the States and be of equal benefit to all ; it 
was essential to form a more perfect Union, to pro- 
vide for the common defense, to promote the general 
welfare, and as no individual State could do any of 
these essential things, power was delegated to the 
Federal Government to do all of them. 

Any State could supervise its own internal affairs, 
relating to marriage, divorce, the collection of 
debts, the punishment of violators of its State laws, 
etc. The States needed no Federal Government to 
attend to such matters for them, and they reserved 



2,^2 General Andrew Jackson, 

all power over such matters to themselves ; the 
Federal Government having no power to meddle 
with such State rights any more than the govern- 
ment of Great Britain, France or Russia had. This 
feature of our government was illustrated during 
the discussion of the massacre of Italian assassins in 
New Orleans (March, 1891.) The Italian Prime 
Minister demanded that the Federal Government 
should interfere and punish the persons who killed 
the Italians ; whereupon, the American Secretary of 
State instructed him that it was impossible for the 
Government of the United States to take any action 
on the case, inasmuch as it had no jurisdiction over 
the police or criminal affairs of individual States. 

In evolving and formulating the Constitution great 
efforts were made to guard the indefeasible rights 
which the States reserved to themselves against the 
possibility of encroachment or interference on the 
part of the Federal Government ; but when the Con- 
stitution was complete and submitted to the people 
of the States for adoption or rejection, it was fiercely 
assailed on the ground that the reserved rights of 
the States were not sufficiently protected. 

After a prolonged, critical and exhaustive discus- 
sion of the subject, a majority of the voters in the 
several States Avere persuaded that the Federal 
Government which was to be instituted under the 
Constitution could not exercise any powers except 
those which had been specifically granted to it ; and 
this being the general understanding, and because it 
was the general understanding, the Constitution 
was adopted. But as soon as the Federal Govern- 
ment went into operation, it began to exercise 



The Rise aiid Fall of NulliJi(fation, 'y^'^ 



-y 



" implied " and "■ derivative " powers, on the plea 
that without the exercise of such powers no efficient 
government was possible ; that as a matter of course 
and as it was understood from the beginning the 
Federal Government must and would exercise 
whatever powers were necessary to carry into prac- 
tical operation and effect all the powers which had 
been specifically granted to it. Unless this were 
done, it was argued, those specific powers had been 
granted in vain, and in vain had the people of the 
United States ordained and established their Con- 
stitution. Webster subsequently demonstrated that 
that was sound legal and constitutional doctrine ; 
nevertheless, if the people had suspected that such 
implied and derivative powers lay concealed in the 
Constitution and could be logically and lawfully 
evoked from the Constitution, they would not have 
adopted it. Indeed, had the interpretation of the 
Constitution and of the powers of the Federal 
Government which Webster presented and estab- 
lished beyond the possibility of logical contradiction 
in his reply to Hayne in 1830, and to Calhoun in 
1833, been made in 1788, it is doubtful if one State 
would have voted for the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion. 

It should be remembered that at the time of the 
formation and adoption of the Constitution, the love 
and appreciation of the Union which exist to-day 
were as impossible as the present physical condition 
of the Union was then impossible. Then the differ- 
ent sections were remote from one another in time 
as well as in space, and a man could pass from one 
section to another only at great inconvenience and 



334 General Andrezu Jacks 071. 

often at the risk of his life. Now, the Union is 
physically bound together by railroads along whose 
iron arteries the currents of travel and traffic cease- 
lessly flow, and is still more closely conjoined by 
the electric telegraph which, like a vast nervous 
system, brings every part of the country into imme- 
diate touch and sympathy. Furthermore, since 
Webster demonstrated the incomputable value of 
the Union and the impossibility of perpetuating 
American liberty without it, the appreciation of it 
and the love for it have been constantly growing, 
until now the preservation of the Union is both seen 
and felt to be of more importance than any other 
consideration which can be presented to a patriotic 
mind. But in 1788, and for several years thereafter, 
there was very little Union sentiment among the 
people of the United States. They cared vastly 
less for the Union than for their idolized State 
rights. Such regard for the Union as they had 
was of a practical, not a sentimental nature. '' What 
is the Union doing for us? What is the Union 
going to do for us ?" were the questions which the 
people asked. Unless the Union should prove to 
be practically useful to them, and useful in a way 
which they could appreciate, they did not care for 
it. Therefore, the assumption by the Federal Gov-" 
ernment of implied and derivative powers aroused 
the State-rights instinct and brought on the contest 
which subsequently assumed nullifying and seces- 
sion phases. Thomas Jefferson was the first nul- 
lifier, was in fact, the father of nullification. In his 
original draft of the famous Kentucky resolutions 



The Rise and Fall of Nullification. 335 

of 1798, there occurred (in the 8th resolution) these 
words : ** Where powers are assumed which have 
not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the 
right remedy." So far as I have been able to learn, 
that was the first time the word nullification was 
used in our political literature. Jefferson also took 
the ground in another resolution that the States 
should concur in declaring the Alien and Sedition 
laws ''void and of no force," and that each State 
should " take measures of its own for providing that 
neither of these acts shall be exercised within their 
respective territories." The Kentucky legislature 
struck all this out ; but in 1799 it passed a resolution 
suggesting that, " A nullification by these sovereign- 
ties (the respective States) of all unauthorized acts 
done under color of that instrument (the Constitu- 
tion) is the rightful remedy." Thus the seed of 
nullification planted by Jefferson germinated and 
bore fruit in actual legislation, and in the course of 
time grew into such a mighty tree that all the birds 
of secession and disunion lodged in its branches — a 
upas tree which was not rooted up until Lee sur- 
rendered to Grant at Appomattox. And yet, who 
ever connects Jefferson's name with nullification or 
disunion? "Nothing" says Professor Sumner, " is 
more astonishing in American political history than 
the immunity enjoyed by some men, and the unfair 
responsibility enforced against others. Every 
school-boy is taught to execrate the Alien and Sedi- 
tion laws and John Adams bears the odium of them, 
but no responsibility worth speaking of for nullifica- 
tion attaches to Jefferson. He was the father of 



2,^6 General Andrew Jackson,^ 

it and the sponser for it, and the authority of his 
name was what recommended it in 1827."* 

From the day that Jefferson planted the seed of 
nullification in his Kentucky resolutions there was 
no lack of nullifiers and disunionists. Kentucky 
and New England led off in these matters, but every 
section of the country took its turn. Whenever a 
law of Congress pressed sorely upon any particular 
class or section, threats of nullification and disunion 
were heard. The abolitionists and freesoilers were 
violent disunionists just preceding the war. They 
did all they could to nullify the fugitive slave law, 
and were ready to dissolve the Union rather than be 
made slave-catchers for the South. The truth is 
that men are governed by a desire to promote their 
own welfare and by the passions engendered in 
defending their rights. There has seldom been a 
community or a party, whether political or religious, 
which would not violate any of its principles to pre- 
serve its own existence, to secure what it believed 
to be a vital advantage, or to avert unendurable 
oppression. When a government persistently inflicts 
upon a large portion of its citizens what they believe 
to be and feel to be an intolerable wrong, those cit- 
izens become willing to let the oppressive govern- 
ment go and are ready to seek for a government 
more considerate for what they believe to be their 
rights. It is not at all strange, therefore, that the 
Southern State-rights party took that course when 
they were so sorely aggrieved by the tariff of 1828. 
Their action was unquestionably unwise and unpa- 

*Sumner, 215, 



The Rise and Fall of Ntdlijication, 337 



triotic, but it was neither unnatural nor unprece- 
dented. New England had set them the example 
twenty odd years before when Jefferson's embargo 
was destroying the commerce of the Eastern States 
and reducing many of their once affluent citizens to 
beggary ; but Massachusetts acted with less passion 
and more discretion than South Carolina. " The 
grievance of the South in 1828," says Professor 
Sumner, was undeniable. . . . Their interests were 
being sacrificed to pretended national interests, just 
as, under the embargo, the interests of New England 
were sacrificed to national interests. In each case 
the party which considered its interests sacrificed, 
came to regard the Union only as a cage, in which 
all were kept in order that the stronger combination 
might plunder the weaker. . . The more thoroughly 
the economist and political philosopher recognizes 
the grievance of the Southerners in 1828, the more 
he must regret the unwisdom of their proceedings."* 
The tariff of 1828 which spurred South Carolina 
into nullification in 1832, was known as the " Tariff 
of Abominations," and Avas probably as unjust a 
tariff as could be imposed upon the country ; but 
its unjust provisions were not due to its friends; 
they were forced into the bill by its enemies for the 
purpose of defeating it altogether. Against the 
indignant protestations and the earnest efforts of its 
friends the bill was so loaded down with odious 
provisions that its defeat was believed to be assured. 
But when it came to the final vote on the passage of 
the bill, it was passed, to the utter consternation of 

* Sumner, 210. 



33^ General Aiidrew Jackson, 



its opponents. The protectionists accepted the bill, 
outrageous as it was, rather than have no tariff at 
all, and so caught the freetraders in their own 
net. The dilemma of the Southern opponents of 
the tariff was deplorable, and the means they took 
to remedy it made it still worse. If they had 
patriotically obeyed the law, yet lawfully sought 
to have it repealed or modified, they would have 
won the sympathy of the country and gained 
their end. But when they changed the issue from 
the upholding of a tariff to the upholding of the 
Union, and challenged the supremacy of the 
Supreme law of the land, they threw away their 
advantage and invited defeat. Their first over- 
throw occurred in the Senate, in January, 1830, 
when Webster, in his reply to Hayne, established 
forever the legal and constitutional supremacy of 
the Union, and demonstrated that the alleged con- 
stitutional right of nullification or secession is a 
chimera of an illogical mind. The parliamentary 
overthrow of secession was enthusiastically wel- 
comed by the people, but it did not arrest the pro- 
ceedings of the nuUifiers. Their threats grew 
louder and more defiant from 1830 to 1832, and at 
last Mr. Calhoun gave notice, as has been related, 
that unless the tariff was so modified as to reduce 
the duties to the revenue standard, South Carolina 
would nullify the acts of Congress imposing them, 
take her commerce with foreign countries into her 
own keeping, and regulate it to suit herself. 

Calhoun's demand that the tariff should be re- 
duced to a revenue standard was made in accordance 
with the intepretation of the Constitution by the 



The Rise and Fall of Ntillificatiou. 339 

State-rights party, which contended that the Federal 
Government *' had no power to lay a tariff except 
for revenue only." It was admitted that in laying a 
tariff for revenue, the Government might adjust the 
duties so as incidentally to protect American manu- 
factures ; that is to say, the object of laying a tariff 
should be to raise revenue, and protection should be 
only an incident. That was the prevalent doctrine 
prior to the war of 18 12. During that war, Ameri- 
can manufactures expanded to such an extent that 
they became nearly equal in importance to agricul- 
ture or commerce. As a matter of course, when the 
war closed, the vast manufacturing interest sought 
to protect itself by securing tariff legislation in its 
favor. It succeeded so well that the result, as Benton 
says, "■ reversed the old course of legislation — made 
protection the object instead of the incident, and 
revenue the incident instead of the object ; and was 
another instance of constitutional construction being 
made dependent, not upon its own words but upon 
extrinsic, accidental and transient circumstances. 
It introduced a new and a large question of consti- 
tutional law, and of national expediency, fraught with 
many and great consequences."* 

One of the many and great consequences gener- 
ated by this constitutional contention as to the 
powers of the Federal Government to impose a 
tariff for the specific purpose of protection, now con- 
fronted the country in the guise of nullification. 
Congress made great efforts to avert the threatened 
disturbance. Mr. Clay's bill was passed as a pacifi- 

* Benton, 1,3. 



340 General Andrew Jackson. 



catory measure in June, 1832, by which the revenue 
was reduced three millions, and the President signed 
it, as being a step toward the right system. The 
nullifiers in South Carolina derided this effort to 
appease their indignation, and proceeded to execute 
Mr. Calhoun's threats. A Convention of the people, 
authorized by the Legislature, met at Columbia, in 
November, 1832, a few days after the Presidential 
election, and adopted, without one dissentient voice, 
the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the tariff 
law '* null, void and no law, nor binding upon this 
State, its officers or citizens." It further decreed 
that no duties enjoined by it should be paid or per- 
mitted to be paid after February i, 1833. 

According to the provisions of this tyrannical 
" Ordinance," no appeal to the Supreme Court was 
to be allowed, and even an attempt to appeal should 
be held as criminal. If the government of the United 
States should try by force to collect the duties, '• the 
people of this State will thenceforth hold themselves 
absolved from all further obligation to maintain or 
preserve their political connection with the people 
of the other States, and will forthwith proceed to 
organize a separate government, and do all other 
acts and things which sovereign and independent 
states may of right do." 

The governor and legislature, with the utmost 
possible emphasis, adopted and commended this 
Ordinance, and the governor was authorized to 
accept the services of volunteers, organized like the 
Minute Men of the Revolution. There was open 
preparation for war throughout the State. Men, 
women and children wore the blue cockade, with a 



The Rise and Fall of Ntillification. 341 

palmetto button in the middle of it. Medals were 
struck bearing inscriptions hostile to the Union. In 
December, 1832, Mr. Calhoun resigned his office of 
Vice-President. A vacancy was created in the Sen- 
ate for him, to which he was at once elected. When 
he left his home to take his seat in the Senate, the 
State of South Carolina was in a universal ferment. 

During all this year, 1832, whether he was at 
Washington or at the Hermitage, the President of 
the United States watched the proceedings of South 
Carolina and her ruling spirit with a keenly atten- 
tive eye. He viewed them merely as the treason- 
able devices of a morbidly ambitious and acutely dis- 
appointed man. His contempt for the movement 
was unbounded. He said to General Sam Dale, an 
old Indian fighter, who had served under him in the 
West : " If this thing goes on our country will be 
like a bag of meal with both ends open. Pick it up 
in the middle or endwise and it will run out. I 
must tie the bag and save the country. They are 
trying me here ; you will witness it ; but, by the 
God of Heaven, I will uphold the law !" Upon 
hearing these words, the old soldier expressed a 
hope that, after all, things would go right. ** They 
shall go right, sir !" the President exclaimed, with 
sudden vehemence, dashing his pipe down upon tue 
table and breaking it to pieces. 

He had a few devoted friends and adherents in 
South Carolina, of whom Joel R. Poinsett was the 
most active and the most competent. Poinsett kept 
the President promptly advised of every movement, 
and he on his part quietly took all possible precau- 
tions. He stationed General Winfield Scott at 



342 



General Andrew Jackson. 



Charleston, and placed some regiments and parts of 
regiments of regular troops where they could be of 
immediate use in an emergency. The naval force in 
Charleston was increased, and five thousand new mus- 
kets were deposited in Castle Pinckney. He sent 
a confidential messenger to Charleston to play the 
part of an intelligent traveler, and carefully inspect 
the forts, islands, revenue cutters and defensible 
points. He came to an understanding with the 
governors of adjacent States, and made it a sure 
thing that, in case of an overt act of treason, he 
could place fifty thousand men in South Carolina 
within forty days, to be followed in another forty 
days by fifty thousand more. In these days of peace, 
it is appalling to think with what a tempest of war 
he would have overwhelmed the Nullifiers if they 
had had the courage to push their movement into 
treasonable collision with the government. 

Recently, we have had published the secret cor- 
respondence of those months between the President 
and Mr. Poinsett, in which Andrew Jackson shows, 
as on many other occasions he exhibited, the heart 
and mind of a natural master of men. His first and 
strongest desire was to turn South Carolina loyalty 
against South Carolina treason, and so confine the 
turmoil to the limits of that rebellious State. Fail- 
ing in this, he waited only for the perpetration of an 
overt act of treason to arrest Calhoun with his prin- 
cipal adherents and put them on trial for that capi- 
tal crime. In his letters to Poinsett, he applied to 
the case in hand the precise interpretation of the law 
of treason, which in 1807 he heard luminously laid 
down by Chief Justice Marshall at the trial of Aaron 



The Rise and Fall of Nullification. 34 



1 



Burr. He dwelt particularly on these two points : 
I. There is no treason until an overt act is com- 
mitted ; 2. When an overt act is committed, all 
aiders and abettors are equally involved in the crime. 
'* The first act of treason committed," he wrote in 
January, 1833, ''unites to it all those who have aided 
and abetted in the execution of the crime." 

While thus quietly preparing for emergencies, the 
President was taking measures to arouse the 
patrotic feeling of the country. As soon as the 
Ordinance of Nullification reached him, he began to 
compose a proclamation by way of reply to it, in 
which he refuted the doctrines of the Ordinance with 
a rare blending of logic, tact and fire. He repro- 
duced, in Jacksonian language, the unanswerable 
argument made by Webster in his reply to Hayne. 
It is said that his favorite pen was a steel implement 
of such vast size that his friends were wont to say 
that when it needed mending he sent it to a black- 
smith to have it repaired. This pen shed ink pro- 
fusely. In writing the proclamation against the 
nuUifiers, the President dashed off page after page 
with such rapidity that a friend who came into the 
office found fifteen or twenty pages scattered over 
the large table to hasten the drying of the ink. 

In response to the nullifiers' assumption that 
when, in the judgment of any State, the General 
Government transcends the powers granted to it by 
the several States, it breaks the "constitutional 
compact," and justifies an aggrieved State in nulli- 
fying the offensive law, and in seceding from the 
Union and resuming the independent position it 
enjoyed before the Union was formed, the President 



344 General Andrezu Jackson. 



said : " 1 consider the power to annul a law of the 
United States, assumed by one State, incompatible 
with the existence of the Union, contradicted 
expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthor- 
ized by its spirit, inconsistent with ever}'- principle 
on which it was founded, and destructive of the 
great object for which it was formed." 

Had this expression of opinion been uttered b}^ 
Webster in the Senate, the nullifiers would have 
disregarded it ; but coming from the President of 
the United States who, it was well known, would 
back itup with the whole power of the Government, 
it compelled the respect of some of the most radical 
South Carolina statesmen sufficiently to make them 
pause in their reckless career. 

The response of the people to the proclamation 
was electric and overwhelming. Enormous meet- 
ings were held in the open air in New York, Boston, 
Philadelphia, as well as in every State outside of 
South Carolina. 

Congress meanwhile was once more engaged with 
the chronic difficulty of the tariff, trying to reconcile 
irreconcilable interests, w^ith the inevitable result of 
disappointing many and satisfying none. The 
Verplanck bill, favored by the President, was the 
most radical, since it proposed a large and sudden 
reduction of the tariff. Mr. Clay's compromise was 
less displeasing to the manufacturers, since it 
reduced duties gradually — ten per cent, per annum 
until all should be reduced below 'twenty per cent. ; 
his object being to accomplish the unavoidable 
reduction with the least possible shock to business, 



The Rise a7td Fall of Ntillification. 345 

while saving as much as possible of the protective 
policy. 

Mr. Calhoun supported and voted for the bill of 
Henry Clay, rather than for that of Mr. Verplanck 
which was more in accord with his own position. 
No doubt, there was a compromise all around, in 
effecting which the unrecorded action of the lobby 
was mightier than the legislation of Congress. 
There were concessions on every side, to avoid civil 
war, to avert from an erring sister the ruinous con- 
sequence of her own rashness, and to save the neck 
of John C. Calhoun. 

As soon as Congress adjourned, the chief Nulli- 
fier travelled southward night and day, and reached 
Columbia in time to prevent South Carolina from 
committing or permitting an act of treason. To 
quote the authorized biography of Mr. Calhoun b}- 
his friend Jenkins : 

" Some of the more fiery and ardent members of 
the Convention were disposed to complain of the 
Compromise Act as being only a half-way, tempor- 
izing measure; but, when Mr. Calhoun's explana- 
tions were made, all felt satisfied, and the Convention 
cordially approved of his course. The Nullification 
Ordinance was repealed, and the two parties in the 
State abandoned their organizations and agreed to 
forget all their past differences." 

Strange to relate, all the promoters of this com- 
promise appeared to be gainers by it. Mr. Clay, 
who visited New York and New England in the 
course of the summer, was hailed with enthusiasm 
in the manufacturing centers, and not less in the 
great cities along the coast. Daniel Webster, too. 



34^ General Andi^ew Jackson, 

reached the highest point in his career as the man 
who had refuted the fallacies of nullification with 
such brilliancy and power as to render his argument 
a permanent national possession. General Jackson 
was warmly attracted toward Mr. Webster, paid 
him marked attention, sending his own carriage to 
convey him to the Capitol when an important 
debate was expected. Even Mr. Van Buren, sitting 
tranquilly in the chair of the Senate, acquired 
additional strength in his character of candidate 
for the succession. 



Jackson s Second Ad7ninistratio7t, 347 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE president's NORTHERN TOUR — RECEPTION AT 
HARVARD COLLEGE — SERIOUS DIFFICULTY WITH 
FRANCE — PRESIDENT JACKSON'S LAST MES- 
SAGE — HIS EXTRARODINARY POPULARITY 
— HE GOES HOME — HIS FINANCIAL 
AFFLICTIONS. 

The man who gained most by the contest with 
the nullifiers, and by the compromise which 
enabled them to retreat from their false position, 
was President Jackson himself. His visit to the 
North and East during the summer of 1833 
occasioned such an outpouring of popular 
enthusiasm as the cities of New York and New 
England had never before witnessed. His most 
inveterate opponents were captivated by his 
elegant manners, his majestic bearing and his genial 
courtesy. In his "' Figures of the Past," Josiah 
Quincy, who had been detailed by the Governor of 
Massachusetts to accompany President Jackson 
through that State, tells an amusing incident which 
occurred at Attleboro, where the Presidential party 
stopped for breakfast after leaving Rhode Island. 
After breakfast they visited the manufactories of 
jewelry lor which Attleboro was famous even at 
that early day. As they were going through one 
of the factories the superintendent of the establish- 
ment said : *' You have been interfering with our 
business, Mr. President, and should feel bound in 



348 General Andrew Jackson. 

honor to take these buttons off our hands," at the 
same time exhibiting many cards of buttons stamped 
with the palmetto tree. These, he said, had been 
ordered by the Southern nullifiers as distinguish- 
ing badges ; but they had been rendered worth- 
less by the President's proclamation. Mr. Quincy 
says that the President ** seemed greatly amused 
at the discovery that treason in South Carolina 
had its commercial value in Massachusetts." 

President Jackson frequently said, in speaking of 
nullification, that the tariff had been a mere pre- 
text of the nullifiers ; that they wanted to break up 
the Union, and that their next pretext would be the 
slavery question — a prediction that proved prophetic. 

The President's reception at Harvard Coll:)ge 
was unexpectedly cordial and enthusiastic. Mr. 
Quincy's father was then president of that institu- 
tion, and was delighted to find their distinguished 
guest to be such a high-toned gentleman. The 
College Federalists had taken pleasure in thinking 
and speaking of General Jackson as a backwoods 
ruffian, full of fight, destitute of brains, and utterly 
wanting in manners befitting cultivated society. In 
the teeth of this prejudice, as Mr. Quincy says, 
" his appearance before that Cambridge audience 
instantly produced a toleration which quickly 
merged into something like admiration and 
respect. The name of Andrew Jackson was indeed 
one to frighten naughty children with; but the 
person who went by it wrought a mysterious charm 
upon old and young." 

Singularly enough, John Quincy Adams was bit- 
terly opposed to Harvard's conferring the degree 



Jackson s Second Admtntsfrafiou. 349 

of LL.D. on President Jackson. The Massachu- 
setts baby evidently began to be jealous of the 
matchless success of the North Carolina baby. But 
the degree was conferred nevertheless; and Mr. 
Adams unbosomed himself to his diary by record- 
ing that "time-serving and sycophancy are the 
qualities of all learned and scientific institutions." 

While the government was grappling with 
nullification, a serious difference arose with France, 
the ancient ally and benefactor of the United 
States. During the Bonaparte wars many vessels 
of the United States had been unlawfully detained, 
fined and confiscated by the French government, for 
which the United States had been ever since vainly 
demanding compensation. In 1830, Louis Philippe 
came to the French throne. He was a cordial 
friend of the United States. He remembered with 
peculiar pleasure his travels in Tennessee when 
Andrew Jackson was a pioneer lawyer there, and 
cherished for him a particular esteem. Lafayette, 
too, again gave to the American negotiator the 
powerful aid of his popularity and of his interest 
with the king. The negotiation proceeded so pros- 
perously that, on the Fourth of July, 1831, the king 
of the French signed a treaty agreeing to pay the 
United States five millions of dollars in six annual 
installments, the first to be paid February 2, 1833. 

Mr. Rives, who represented the United States 
in the negotiation, came home in triumph, and the 
affair was supposed to be happily settled. Quite 
as a matter of course, Congress passed a law pro- 
viding for the appointment of three commissioners 
to divide the money among the claimants, and, as 



350 G enteral Andrew Jackson, 

the treaty bound the United States to reduce the 
duties upon French wines, a law to that effect was 
passed. So certain was the Secretary of the 
Treasury of receiving the money on the day 
appointed, that a draft for the amount was sold to 
the Bank of the United States, and its proceeds 
placed to the credit of the government. The bank 
sold the draft to bankers in England, who presented 
the same at the French treasury for payment. 
Imagine the surprise and the embarrassment of all 
parties concerned, when the French minister of 
finance notified the bearers of the draft that, as,.the 
French Deputies had not appropriated any money 
for the purpose, it could not be paid. The Depu- 
ties had simply neglected to make the appropria- 
tion, as the bill was introduced late in the session, 
and was not made what was then called " a minis- 
terial measure." 

President Jackson was so disconcerted and in so 
many ways offended by this failure, that he accepted 
the resignation of Edward Livingston as Secretary 
of State, and sent him as minister to France in a 
national vessel to see what was the matter. He was 
accompanied by his son-in-law, Thomas F. Barton, 
the husband of his beautiful daughter Cora, who 
had played about General Jackson's knees and 
brought him his rice at New Orleans in 1815. But 
neither Mr. Livingston nor the French ministry nor 
King Louis Philippe could succeed in inducing the 
French Assembly to vote the money. The king 
gave Mr. Livingston a confidential hint on the sub- 
ject. Let the President of the United States, said 
he, insert a few lines in his next message to show 



Jackso7is Seco7id Administration. 351 

our dilatory Deputies that he is in earnest in the 
matter, and means to insist upon payment. 

General Jackson acted on this suggestion ; but his 
idea of a friendly hint diftered somewhat from that 
which prevailed in the diplomatic circles of Europe. 
In his message of 1834 he recommended that, in case 
the money should not be voted at the next session of 
the French Chambers, a law should be passed 
^'authorizing reprisals upon French property'' On 
reading the message, as Mr. Barton used to relate, 
the king of the French was much surprised, but more 
amused. Upon the whole, he was well pleased with 
the message, because he thought it would actually 
induce the Deputies to vote the money. But as 
soon as the words of the message were printed in 
the French newspapers, with extracts from Mr. Liv- 
ingston's confidential correspondence, showing that 
the king himself had suggested the warlike tone of 
the message, the entire French people seemed to be 
thrown into a paroxysm of excitement and indigna- 
tion. The French minister resident at Washington 
was at once recalled, and Mr. Livingston was 
informed that his passports were ready. The Cham- 
bers were appeased for the moment by a notification 
from the king that diplomatic intercourse between 
France and the United States had been suspended. 

Mr. Livingston's conduct on this occasion was 
eminently diplomatic and wise. Instead of at once 
applying for his passports, he determined to wait 
until he could hear from home. Being a master of 
the French tongue, he addressed to the ministry a 
frank and eloquent explanation of the misunder- 
standing, in which he showed that the President's 



352 General A7idrew Jackson, 

message was designed to avoid hostile measures and 
was written wholly in the interests of peace. Dis- 
patches, however, soon arrived from Washington 
which compelled him to take his departure, and 
finally Mr. Barton, the Secretary of Legation, who 
had been left in charge of the American mission, was 
ordered home. 

On Mr. Barton's arrival in the winter of 1836, he 
found the President so inflamed with indignation 
against the French that it was with great difficulty 
he told his story, and he was obliged at length to 
say to the President that he could not explain the 
situation in France truly unless he were allowed to 
speak without interruption. " Right, sir," said the 
President ; " go on, sir." He then explained that all 
France was in a frenzy on the matter. The king, 
the ministry and all persons capable of reflection 
lamented this, and earnestly desired a restoration of 
all the old friendship with the United States. Mr. 
Barton's clear explanation allayed the President's 
excitement. Nevertheless, he said to Congress that, 
as the French were evidently preparing for war, it 
would be only prudent on the part of the United 
States to make similar preparations, such as the 
increase of the navy and the completion of the coast 
defenses. 

By this time the American people were roused 
almost to the degree of excitement prevailing in 
France. Even John Quincy Adams in the House of 
Representatives supported the action of the Presi- 
dent in a speech so spirited and powerful that the 
tradition of its effect remains until this day. As Mr. 



Jacksojt's Second Administration. 35 



'> 



Seward records, " the very walls of the Capitol shook 
with the thundering applause it called forth." 

At this alarming" crisis the government of Great 
Britain offered to mediate between the two estranged 
nations. The offer being promptly accepted, the 
President had the pleasure, on the tenth of May, 
1836, to inform Congress that " the four installments, 
due under our treaty with France, had been paid to 
the agent of the United States, and that no proper 
exertions of his should be wanting to restore the 
ancient cordial relations between the two coun- 
tries." 

The excitement subsided, and all parties, particu- 
larly Louis Philippe himself, united in applauding 
the vigor and firmness of President Jackson. The 
happy news came a month after the payment of the 
last installment of the public debt, an event which 
was celebrated by a banquet in Washington, at 
which Senator Benton presided, and a hundred 
patriotic toasts were offered. 

One more conflict remained to be fought out by 
this most combative and victorious of men, one that 
he had been waging with unabated zeal from the 
early months of his first term — that with the United 
States Bank. He destroyed the Bank at last, and 
thereby did his country an inestimable service ; but 
it was unfortunate that a safe and sufficient substitute 
for the Bank was not provided before that danger- 
ous institution was overthrown. 

On the 30th of January, 1835, an attempt was made 
to assassinate President Jackson. He, with members 
of his Cabinet, had attended the funeral, in the hall 
of the House of Representatives, of Hon. Warren 



354 General Andrew Jackson, 

R. Davis, of South Carolina. The procession had 
moved out with the casket containing the corpse. 
The President (with Levi Woodbury, Secretary of 
State, aud Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the 
Navy) was issuing from the door of the rotunda, 
that opens on the portico, when a man stepped for- 
ward into a little open space about eight feet in front 
of General Jackson, leveled a pistol at his breast, and 
pulled the trigger. The cap exploded with such a 
loud report that it was supposed the pistol had fired. 
Colonel Benton said he heard it at the foot of the 
steps, some distance away, and with a great crowd 
intervening. But the pistol did not go off. The 
man dropped it instantly, and leveled another pistol, 
which he had held ready cocked in his left hand, and 
pulled the trigger again. The cap exploded without 
firing the pistol. The President instantly rushed 
upon the man with his uplifted cane; he shrank 
back ; Secretary Woodbury aimed a blow at him : 
Lieutenant Gedney, of the Navy, knocked him 
down ; he was secured by the bystanders, and 
handed over to the officers of justice. His name was 
Richard Lawrence. He was an Englishman. It 
was found, on examination, that he was of unsound 
mind, and had conceived it to be his divine mission 
to shoot the President, so as to relieve the country 
from the business depression under which it was 
alleged to be suffering. 

The pistols were examined and found to be well 
loaded. On being recapped, "■ they were fired with- 
out fail, carrying their bullets true, and driving them 
through inch boards at thirty feet distance ; nor could 
any reason be found for the two failures at the door 



Jackson s Second A dmmistration. 



OD^ 



of the rotunda. . . . The circumstance made a 
deep impression upon the public feeling, and irre- 
sistibly carried many minds to the belief in a 
superintending Providence, manifested in the extra- 
ordinary case of two pistols in succession — so well 
loaded, so coolly handled, and which afterwards 
fired with such readiness, force, and precision — miss- 
ing fire, each in its turn, when leveled eight feet at 
the President's heart."* 

The last message of President Jackson contained 
a warning note as to the growing surplus. He took 
the ground that there should be no surplus and no 
taxation beyond the legitimate needs of the govern- 
ment. To the last hour of his second term he 
retained his popularity in full measure. Gifts and 
congratulations rained upon him, and when he 
appeared, an infirm old man, at the inauguration of 
Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency, he was the central 
figure, the commanding personage of the occasion. 
For once, in the history of governments, the setting 
outshone the rising sun. For once, the people, who 
are usually rated as fickle and ungrateful, turned on 
their god when he set the same look that they turned 
when he rose. As the vast concourse looked their 
last upon the feeble but still majestic old man who 
from his boyhood had served his country with such 
heroism and devotion, many of them shed tears, and 
their final *' Hurrah for Jackson " came fervid 
from grateful hearts. 

The admiration of the people of that generation 
for General Jackson and their unparalleled devotion 

* Benton, i. 521. 



o^) 



^6 General Andrew Jackson. 



to him, have been looked upon by his enemies as 
among the worst evils that ever befell the United 
States. In their opinion, Andrew Jackson's elevation 
to the Presidency was a national misfortune. They 
cannot deny that he accomplished much that was of 
advantage to the nation ; but they maintain that for 
whatever good came out of his administration the 
country was indebted to an overruling Providence. 
It is useless to argue against convictions which are 
founded on prejudice and hatred ; and the more 
honest and sincere the holders of such opinions are, 
the less possible it is to modify them. It is conceded 
that the foreign diplomacy of President Jackson was 
very successful. The most amicable relations were 
sustained with great Britain ; useful commercial 
treaties were made with several countries, and expir- 
ing treaties were renewed with others ; indemnities 
for spoliations on American commerce were obtained 
from France, Naples, Spain and Portugal, and the 
United States for the first time took its equal sta- 
tion among the nations of the earth. President 
Jackson's domestic administration was correspond- 
ingly successful. The Creeks were removed from 
Florida and the Cherokees from Georgia ; the public 
lands were thrown open to the people at nominal 
prices ; the United States Bank was overthrown ; 
the gold currency was largely increased ; the 
national debt was extinguished ; nullification was 
crushed, and Union sentiments were made para- 
mount throughout the land. The people appre- 
ciated these national benefits ; they believed in 
President Jackson's honesty and patriotism ; they 
admired his courage and his purity of life and char- 



Jackson's Second Administration. 357 

acter, and they spontaneously condoned his faults 
of temper and his summary mode of dealing with 
obstacles. 

Moreover, it was understood and felt in all parts 
of the country that General Jackson's sympathies 
were with the people — with poor and struggling 
men ; that he wished for a sound currency with 
which the wages of the workman should be paid, so 
that when the laborer received a dollar for his day's 
work it should be a dollar, and buy a full dollar's 
worth anywhere. When the favorite hero of a free 
and enlightened people exhibits qualities so popular 
and valuable as these the devotion he evokes may 
sometimes seem to be fanatical, but it is none the 
less genuine. 

The ex-President's homeward journey was a con- 
tinual triumph. No President going to Washington 
to assume governmental power was ever so honored 
as was this old man who had taken leave of public 
life for ever. He was seventy years of age, his hair 
as white as snow. The infirmities of age, greatly 
emphasized by his continual ill-health from boyhood, 
subdued the rugged energy of his manner and soft- 
ened the leonine expression of his countenance into 
an engaging gentleness of aspect and deportment 
which gave an additional attractiveness to the 
habitual majesty of his demeanor. The inhabitants 
of Nashville gave him an enthusiastic welcome home. 
Among the vast assemblage was a large company 
of boys. The Hon, Andrew Ewing, then a very 
young man and the spokesman for the boys, thus 
describes the scene : " The day of his [General 
Jackson's] return was to me one of the most memor- 



35^ General Aiidrezv Jackson, 



able of my existence. We met him in the cedars 
near Lebanon. The old men were ranged in front, 
the boys in the rear. He got out of his carriage. 
* * * He then drew near us. I stepped forward, 
spoke a few words of kindness, and wound up by 
saying ' That the children of his old soldiers and 
friends welcomed him home, and were ready to 
serve under his banner.' His frame shook, he 
bowed down his head, and whilst the tears rolled 
down his aged cheeks, he replied : * I could have 
stood all but this ; it is too much, too much !' The 
crowd gathered around, and for a few moments 
there was a general outburst of sympathy and tears. 
I may live a hundred years, but no future can erase 
that scdne from my memory."* 

Soon after his arrival at the Hermitage, he wrote 
to a friend : " I returned home with just ninety 
dollars in money, having expended all my salary 
and most of the proceeds of my cotton crop ; found 
everything out of repair ; corn and everything else 
for the use of my farm to buy." 

It was necessary, therefore, for him to resume at 
once his labors as a planter, and by the sale of a 
piece of land, to raise money for a working capital. 

*ParLon's Life of Jackson, IH: 630, 



Afidrew Jacksoiis Last Years, 359 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

ANDREW JACKSON'S LAST YEARS — HIS CONVERSION 
—HE JOINS THE CHURCH — HIS CLOSING 
HOURS — HIS DEATH. 

On his extensive farm the ex-President found 
abundant and congenial occupation during the last 
years of his life. At this time he possessed about a 
hundred and fifty slaves, to whom he was an indul- 
gent and considerate master, as well as a steadfast 
friend in time of trouble. He loved to look upon a 
well-cultivated field of cotton or grain, and he still 
had the keenest enjoyment in the finer breeds of 
sheep, cattle and horses. 

Chaplain Milburn, the Blind Preacher, then a keen- 
sighted boy upon his father's Western farm, remem- 
bers the general's viewing some superior animals 
just imported from England. He remembers, too, 
how the old man's face glowed with pleasure as he 
gazed upon them, and eagerly pointed out the 
blending of beauty and strength in their forms. 

"Never," said the preacher, "shall I forget the 
impressive appearance, the tall, spare figure, the 
glittering eye and the commanding presence of the 
erect old man." He showed as a farmer the same 
qualities that gave him success elsewhere ; vigi- 
lant watchfulness, forethought, careful calculation, 
unslumbering attention to the duties in hand. 

He was still a busy politician. The mail-box at 
his garden-gate was a large receptacle, but often it 



360 General Andreiv Jackso7t. 



a 



was not large enough to hold what the mail brought 
him. As long as he had strength to sit at his desk, 
he answered with his own hand every letter that 
required an answer. He wrote often to President 
Van Buren, and gave cordial support and applause 
to his calm and sagacious dealing with the financial 
embarrassments of his term. 

As usual, his house was well filled with visitors, 
some of whom recorded their conversations with 
him. He was a man much given to maxims, some 
of which were his own, such as: ''Take all the 
time for thinking the circumstances allow ; but 
when the time for action has come, stop thinking." 
Alluding to his early history, he would quote 
Shakespeare's " tide in the affairs of men," add- 
ing, " That's true, sir, I've proved it during my 
whole life." 

One great grief and disappointment afflicted him 
during the last years of his life. His adopted son, 
named by him Andrew Jackson, was not successful 
as a man of business. His misfortunes so reduced 
General Jackson's available resources, that in 1842 
he was obliged to borrow ten thousand dollars, and 
asked Mr. Blair of the Globe to lend him the money. 
Blair and Rives, now enriched by the public print- 
ing and the prosperity of the Globe y desired to make 
this loan on General Jackson's personal securit}^ 
alone, meaning thereby to make it, if possible, a gift. 
The old man saw through their generous scheme ; 
it affected him to tears ; still he would not permit 
them to carry it out, but secured the loan by a 
mortgage on his estate. Soon after, the fine 
imposed upon him at. New Orleans in 1815 was 



Andrew Jacksoiis Last Years. 361 

refunded, principal and interest, by act of Congress, 
Mr. Calhoun voting for it. This gave him twenty- 
seven hundred dollars additional, and it came at a 
very good time. 

In 1842, when he was seventy-five years of age, he 
fulfilled, at length, the promise he had made to his 
wife many years before, that when he had done 
with politics he would follow her example and join 
the church. A protracted meeting was held in the 
little church on the Hermitage farm, all the services 
of which were attended by the family. General 
Jackson himself being always in his accustomed 
seat. At the last of the meetings, on Saturday 
afternoon, the Reverend Doctor Edgar of Nash- 
ville, who personally told the story to Mr. Parton, 
was the preacher ; his subject, " Providential Inter- 
position." He observed, as he proceeded with his 
sermon, that his distinguished auditor was singu- 
larly attentive, and on the spur of the moment he 
gave the discourse a personal bearing. He sketched 
the career of a pioneer "who had escaped the perils 
of the wilderness, the wiles of the Indian, the 
dangers of wgj:*, the conflicts of politics and the 
attempts of the assassin. " How can such a man," 
exclaimed the preacher, '* pass through such scenes 
as these unharmed, and not see in it an Omnipotent 
Hand ?" 

At the close of the service General Jackson asked 
Doctor Edgar to visit him ; which, however, the 
clergyman could not do until Sunday morning. 
The aged warrior found it a hard matter to come 
into the kingdom, and he spent the greater part of 
the night in reading the Bible, in prayer and in con- 



362 General Andrew Jackson, 



versing with his daughter-in-law, who intended to 
join the church the very next day. As the Sunday 
morning was dawning, he obtained relief, and met 
Doctor Edgar with joy and triumph in his counte- 
nance. He announced his desire to join the church 
that morning, with his daughter. The clergyman, 
after asking the usual questions and getting satisfac- 
tory replies, spoke as follows : 

"■ General, there is one more question which it is 
my duty to ask you. Can you forgive all your 
enemies ?" 

He was silent for a good while. At length he 

said : 

" My political enemies I can freely forgive ; but 
as for those who abused me when I was serving my 
country in the field, and those who attacked me 
for serving my country — doctor, that is a different 

case." 

Doctor Edgar, however, insisted that the forgive- 
ness must be entire and embrace the whole family 
of man. After a considerable pause, the candidate 
got so far as to say that he thought he could forgive 
even the men who had made his defense of his native 
land a pretext for assailing him. 

The scene in the little church that morning was 
never forgotten by any who witnessed it. Besides 
being crowded to the very uttermost, the windows 
were darkened by as many black faces as could get 
near enough. At length the general and his 
daughter stood up to make the usual public profes- 
sion. He leaned heavily upon his walking-stick 
with both hands, and his face was wet with tears. 
When finally he was pronounced a member of the 



Andrew Jackson s Last Years. "y^^"^ 

church, the feelings of the congregation, which had 
been restrained during the ceremonial, burst forth 
in sobs and cries, and the clergyman himself was 
unable to speak. Some one started a familiar hymn, 
and in singing this the feelings of the excited com- 
pany at last found both expression and relief. 

What an encouragement in faithful well-doing it 
should be to all pious mothers thus to learn that 
Andrew Jackson's early religious instruction, given 
in his humble home in the old Waxhaw settlement, 
at last bore its legitimate fruit and in spirit brought 
him back, after all those years, a childlike old man, 
to his mother's knee and his mother's prayers. The 
memory and the influence of his mother's teaching, 
of her example and her prayers, had never entirely 
left him. Like soft-whispering angels, they had 
perpetually and lovingly hovered over him and 
around him even in his most wayward steps, and in 
later years the powerful influence of his wife's 
religious character and pious wishes, had been 
added to them. To a friend who spoke to him in 
1839 about the calumnies as to his skepticism with 
which he had been assailed during his Presidential 
canvasses, General Jackson responded with great 

emphasis : 

'*Yes, sir! For thirty-five years before my 
election to the Presidency, 1 read at least three 
chapters of the Bible every day, which is far more 
than any of my detractors could say with truth, in 

this respect." 

From the day he joined the church he spent most 
of his leisure hours in reading the Bible, and in 
studying Scott's Commentaries. He read prayers 



364 GencTal Andrew Jackson. 

every evening in the presence of all his family and 
servants. A few weeks after they wished to make 
him a ruling elder of the little church, but he said : 
" No ; I am too young in the church for such an 
office. My countrymen have given me high honors, 
but I should esteem the office of ruling elder in the 
church of Christ a far higher honor than any I have 
received." 

During the last two years of General Jackson's 
life, after he had been an invalid for thirty years, 
his malady took the form of consumption, which 
was much aggravated by dropsy, a constantly 
recurring diarrhoea, and other painful symptoms. 
Few old men have more acutely or more continu- 
ously suffered, and no one could ever have borne 
such sufferings with more fortitude or more patience. 
That unparalleled character of his — ''the impossibility 
of being displaced or overset" — which had borne 
him so triumphantly through all manner of trials 
and impediments, now stood him in stead during 
his protracted and agonizing illness. Mr. Trist, 
who has already been quoted as to General Jack- 
son's character, says : " There was more of the 
woman in his nature than in that of any man I ever 
knew — more of Avoman's tenderness towards children 
and sympathy with them. Often has he been known, 
though he never had a child of his own, to walk up 
and down by the hour with an infant in his arms, 
because by so doing he relieved it from the cause 
of its crying ; more, also, of woman's patience and 
uncomplaining, unnoticing submissiveness to trivial 
causes of irritation. "^ * ^ As regards patience 
I have often seen his temper tried to a degree that 



Andrew Jacksoft^s Last Years, 365 

it irritated mine to think of, by those neglects in 
small things that go so hard with an invalid — as he 
always was at the period when I knew him — and 
which are so apt to test one's temper. But things 
of this kind passed off without so much as a shade 
coming over his countenance." 

Mr. Blair, of the Washington Glolfe, who visited 
General Jackson toward the close of his life, wit- 
nessed an exhibition of his patience and tenderness, 
when one of his little nephews, a vigorous boy six 
years of age, ran against him as he sat in his chair 
silently enduring one of his agonizing headaches. 
The suffering old man turned deadly pale and fell 
back in his chair breathless. When he had recov- 
ered a little, he spoke to the boy in the tenderest 
way, and as though caring more for the feelings of 
the alarmed child than for his own suffering : " Oh, 
my dear boy, you don't know how much pain you 
have given your uncle !" Indeed, it seemed as 
though over this long perturbed, fiery, untamable 
spirit the Lord had thrown a mantle of peace, the 
spiritual garment of the soul, woven out of regen- 
erated integrity, purity and courage, through 
patriotic deeds unselfishly performed, and unwaver- 
ing trust in divine mercy and redeeming grace. 
" Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind 
is stayed on Thee." 

During every interval of reHef, the general still 
loved to converse on his old topics. About six 
weeks before his death. Dr. Edgar asked him what 
he would have done with Calhoun and the nullifiers 
if they had persisted. To this question he replied, 
with remarkable energy : 



3^6 Ge7iei^al Andrezv Jackson. 



" Hanged them, sir, as high as Haman. They 
should have been a terror to traitors to all time." 

To the last days of his life he was pestered by 
office-seekers, who besought him to sign their recom- 
mendations. They invaded and pervaded his door- 
yard, his piazza, and sometimes his sick-chamber. 
What is there in the way of obtrusiveness, intrusive- 
ness, invasiveness, pervasiveness, meddlesomeness or 
crookedness of etiquette to which the office-seeker 
will not with alacrity resort ? And yet this pestifer- 
ous creature has one Christian virtue ; if you smite 
him on one cheek, he will meekly turn the other to 
you, also — if he has not already obtained your signa- 
ture. The human race is divided into men, women 
and office-seekers. It was so in the beginning. In 
the Garden of Eden, as Milton informs us, there was 
a man, a woman and an office-seeker who had been 
kicked out of heaven for offensive office-seekino". 
That original office-seeker pla)-ed the devil in Para- 
dise, and made life an everlasting burden to the 
descendants of that unfortunate pair who were so 
foolish as to sign his recommendations. And, worse 
still, he had descendants — has always had them — has 
them now. They were more troublesome to the sick 
and dying old hero of the Hermitage than all his 
Indian and foreign foes had been. He could slay 
his Indian and foreign foes, but, unfortunatel}^ there 
were obstacles in the way of his meting out justice 
to the office-seekers who so ruthlessly annoyed him. 
" I am dying," the worn-out old man said one day — 
" I am dying as fast as I can, but they will keep 
swarming upon me in crowds, seeking for office — 
intriguing for office." 



Andrew Jackson s Last Hours. 367 

The last national subject which occupied his 
attention was the annexation of Texas, or " the 
recovery of Texas by the United States," as he put it. 
He was greatly rejoiced when the work was 
accomplished. 

The venerable ex-President suffered on through 
weeks and months; but finally the time drew near 
when that indomitable character which no earthly 
power had ever been able to displace or overset was 
to be subdued by the power of death. His last day 
on earth was June 8, 1845. It was Sunday — a warm, 
pleasant day. He was seventy-eight years old. It 
was known that his end was near, and all day long 
crowds of his servants and slaves thronged about 
the house, filled the piazza, and looked in at the 
doors and windows, sobbing and wringing their 
hands. They all loved him, for he had always been 
a kind and just master, and also their faithful friend. 
He spoke to them affectionately at intervals. 

"I go a short time before you," he said, " and 
want to meet you all, white and black, in Heaven." 
He repeated, Avith emphasis, " white and black'' 

The very last words he spoke were addressed to 
his sobbing slaves : "■ What is the matter with my 
dear children ?" he tenderly asked. " Have I 
alarmed you? Oh, don't cry! Be good children, 
and we will all meet in Heaven." 

He died at six o'clock in the evening. His last 
look was affectionately fixed upon a portrait of his 
wife that hung opposite to his bed. His old com- 
rade, Major Lewis, closed his eyes. The funeral, 
which took place on June loth, was attended by 
thousands of people from Nashville and all the 



368 General Andrew Jackson. 



country round. He was buried in the Hermitage 
garden, by the side of his wife, of whom he had 
spoken with characteristic loyalty of affection not 
long before he died, saying: " Heaven will be no 
/ Heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there." 

The tablet which covers his remains bears this 
inscription : 

GENERAL 
ANDREW JACKSON, 

BORN ON THE I5TH OF MARCH, 1 767, 

Died on the Zth of June, 1845,' 



'^i 




THE TOMB OF ANDREW JACKSON,— /%e Page 368. 



INDEX. 



ADAIR, GENERAL JOHN— In the battle of New Orleans, 
228 ; helps to repulse Gen. Gibbs, 235-38. 

ADAMS, HENRY — Misrepresentations of Jackson, 125-26; dis- 
parages the Florida campaign of 1814, 175; also the New 
Orleans campaign, 245. 

ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY— Rival baby 13, 14; defends General 
Jackson's course in Florida, 268-69 ; his triumphant Spanish 
diplomacy, 271 ; is elected President by the House of Repre- 
sentatives, 279-80 ; opposes the conferring of the degree of 
Doctor of Laws upon Jackson, 348 ; eloquent speech in sup- 
port of Jackson's attitude towards France, 352. 

AMBRISTER, R. C— British spy shot in Florida, 266. 

ARBUTHNOT, A.— British spy hanged in Florida, 266. 

ARMSTRONG, JOHN— Secretary of War, 138. 

AVERY, WAIGHTSTILL— Is challenged by Jackson, 50. 

BANCROFT, GEORGE— Quotations from, 22, 28. 

BANK OF THE UNITED STATES— Its origin, 305 ; its organi- 
zation and character, 306-7 ; war upon it, 307, 313. 

BARRY, W. T.— Postmaster-General, 296. 

BARTON, THOMAS F.— Goes to France, 350; explains to 
President Jackson, 352. 

BERRIEN, JOHN McP.— Attorney-General, 296. 

BIDDLE, NICHOLAS— President of the U. S. Bank, 306; his 
mistake, 308 ; his weakness, 310-11. 



3 JO Index. 

BENTON, THOMAS H.— His birth, 47; quotations from, 42 
86; with Jackson in the war of 181 2, 1 29-1 31; street fight 
with Jackson, 144-46 ; his account of the attempt to assassi- 
nate President Jackson, 353. 

BLAIR, FRANCIS P.— Editor of the Washington Globe. Power- 
ful supporter of Jackson, 309; lends Jackson ten thousand 
dollars, 360 ; affecting incident at the Hermitage, 363. 

BLENNERHASSETT, HARMON— One of Burr's dupes, 122. 

BURR, AARON — Advocates the admission of Tennessee into 
the Union, "JT \ his conspiracy, 1 16-128. 

BRANCH, JOHN— Secretary of the Navy, 296. 

CALHOUN, JOHN C— His birth, 47 ; Secretary of War, 261 ; 
orders General Jackson to Florida, 262 ; says that Jackson 
exceeded his orders, 268; aspires to the Presidency, 275 ; 
elected Vice-President in 1824; re-elected in 1828, 287; his 
toast at the Jefferson dinner, 314 ; rupture with Jackson, 319 ; 
avows his belief in nullification, 320; attempts nullification 
and secession, 340-41 ; resigns the Vice-Presidency and is 
sent to the Senate, 341 ; his strenuous efforts to head off 
action by the nuUifiers, 345, 

CAMPBELL. REV, J. N.— Instigates the Mrs. Eaton Scandal, 
300. 

CARLYLE, THOMAS— Quotation from, 38. 

CARROLL, GENERAL WILLIAM— On his way to New 
Orleans, 188; repulses the enemy's main attack, 235-38. 

CARTWRIGHT, REV. PETER— Anecdotes of, 93, 94, 256. 

CASS, LEWIS— Secretary of War, 320. 

CASTLEREAGH, LORD— His remark to the King of France 
about the situation in America, 246. 

CLAY, HENRY — His birth, 19; assails General Jackson for his 
action in Florida, 270 ; gives the Presidency to Adams in the 
House of Representatives, 279-80; Secretary of State, 281 ; 
" Bargain and Corruption," 281 ; candidate for the Presidency, 
and defeated in 1832, 324-25; forces his tariff of conciliation 
through Congress, 339-40; also his compromise tariff of 1833, 

345. 



Index. 37^ 

CLARK, DANIEL— Letter to Gen. Wilkinson, 121 ; entertains 

Jackson, 182. 
CLAIBORNE, C. C— Governor of Lousiana, 121, 124, 179, 182. 
CLINTON, De WITT— Aspires to the Presidency, 275. 
COCHRANE, ADMIRAL A. J.— Commander of the British 

naval expedition against New Orleans, 177,204, 212. 
COFFEE, GENERAL JOHN— Buys Jackson's £,tore, 98 ; with 

Jackson in the war of 1812,1 30-35 ; in the Creek war, 1 50-59 ; 

160-69; participates in Jackson's night attack on the British 

202, 206, 207. 
COFFIN HANDBILL— Got out by Binns in 1828, 285. 
CORNWALLIS, LORD— Operations in South Carolina 19. 20, 

surrenders at Yorktown, 47. 
CRAWFORD, THOMAS— Captured, etc., 26. 
CRAWFORD, WILLIAM H.— Candidate for the Presidency in 

1824, 276; the friend of Jackson in 1819, 319. 



DALE— Colonel of the Praying Highlanders, 231. 

DALE, COLONEL SAM— His interesting interview with Jack- 
son, 341. 

DAVIE, COLONEL WM. R.— An American partisan officer, 20. 

DAYTON, JONATHAN— An accomplice of Burr's, 116. 

DICKINSON, CHARLES— Birth, 20 ; insults Mrs. Jackson, 
106; duel and death, 103, 113. 

DONELSON, COLONEL JOHN— Surveyor, 14; is slain, 58. 

DONELSON, MRS,— Widow of Col. John, 58. 

DONELSON, RACHEL— Lovely brunette, etc., 14; goes to 
Tennessee, 47 ; becomes Mrs. Robards, 58 ; marries Andrew 
Jackson, 75. 

DUELS AND DUELLING— 50-53. 

EATON, MAJOR JOHN H.— Marries Mrs. Timberlake, 299. 
appointed Secretary of War, 295 ; resigns, is |made Governor 
of Florida, and then Minister to Spain, 319, 320. 

EATON, MRS.— Wife of Major Eaton. Her origin, 299 ; the 
Mrs. Eaton Scandal, 299-304. 

ELY, REV. E. S.— Starts the Mrs. Eaton Scandal, 300. 



372 Index. 

GAINES, EDMUND P.— American general in Florida, 260-66. 

GIBBS, MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL— Arrives at New 
Orleans, 213; leads the main column of attack, 233 ; his brav- 
ery in battle 236-7 ; is mortally wounded, 238. 

GREENE, MAJOR-GENERAL NATHANIEL— Is defeated at 
Hobkirk's Hill, 33. 

HALL, JUDGE DOMINICK A.— Is arrested by General Jack- 
son, 250; he fines the general, 251-52. 

HARDY, SIR THOMAS— Captain in British fleet, 177. 

HAYNE, COLONEL ARTHUR P.— Inspector-general at New 
Orleans, 204. 

HAYNE, ROBERT Y.— Senator from South [Carolina. His 
debate with Webster, 313. 

HAYS, COLONEL — Burr's friend. Jackson gives his son a let- 
ter to Gov. Claiborne, 124. 

HEROES— 7. 

HILL, ISAAC — opposed to U. S. Bank, 307. 

HINDS, COLONEL THOMAS— Commands dragoons at New 
Orleans, 209. 

INGHAM, SAMUEL D.— Secretar>' of the Treasur>% 295. 

JACKSON, ANDREW, Senior— 9, 10. 

JACKSON, ANDREW— Birth and early training, 9-15 ; his grit, 
16, 17; hatred of the British, 21, 22, 24; defends Captain 
Sands's house, 25 ; taken prisoner, 26 ; refuses to cleanjofficer's 
boots and is struck on the head, 27 ; saves his friend Thomp- 
son, 30 ; in the prison pen at Camden, 31-34 ; death of his 
mother, 37 ; his reverence and love for her, 37, 38 ; his deso- 
lation, 39; secret of his character and career, 40,41 ; his 
honesty, 41 ; his chastity, 42, 43 ; his reverence and firmness, 
44, 45 ; his Scotch-Irish lineage, 45 ; incidents of his boyhood, 
48 ; is admitted to the bar, appointed Solicitor and Public 
Prosecutor, and starts for Tennessee, 48-50 ; his first duel, 
50-52; his capacity for leadership, 53, 54; saves his party 
from massacre by Indians, 55,56; arrival in Nashville and 
eventful choice of a boarding place, 56-58 ; his early career 



Index, 373 



in Nashville, 60-66 ; humorous and thrilling adventures, 66-73 ; 
marries Mrs. Robards, 74, 75 ; Representative in Congress, 
77-81 ; U. S. Senator, 82 ; resigns his Senatorship and becomes 
a backwoods merchant, 84 ; Judge of the Supreme Court of 
Tennessee, 85 ; Anecdotes, 89-91 ; 94, 95 ; financial disas- 
ters, 97 ; his skill in farming, 99; his love for his wife, 100; 
the Dickinson duel, 103-115; Burr's conspiracy, 123-125; 
Jackson in the beginning of the war of 1812, 129-141 ; wins 
his nickname of Old Hickory, 142-143 ; terrible affray with the 
Bentons, 144-146; Jackson in the Creek war, 147-17 1 ; his 
disabled condition, 152-53; battle of Tallushatches, 157; 
Talladega, 159; Jackson's fight against famine, 161-65; 
Emuckfau and Enotachopco, 166 ; Tohopeka, 169-70 ; Jack- 
son appointed Major-General in the U. S. Army, 171 ; takes 
command of the Southern division of the army, 172 ; treaty of 
Fort Jackson, 172 ; defends Mobile and routs the British out of 
Pensacola, 173-75 ; effect of his arrival in New Orleans, 181- 
190; what the ladies thought of him, 185-86; getting ready 
for the enemy, proclamation of martial law, 186-89 ; arrival of 
the British, 191-200 ; Jackson's terrific night attack, 201-208 ; 
he plants his stakes, 210; repulses Pakenham's first attack. 
217-18 ; also his second attack, 221-22; preliminaries of the 
final struggle, 226-234: the Battle of New Orleans, 235-241 ; 
after the battle, 248-252 ; his collision with Judge Hall, 250- 
52; his welcome home, 253-54; triumphal journey to Wash- 
ington, 254-55 ; out of debt, and builds a new house, 255-56 ; 
correspondence with James Monroe. 258 ; Indian troubles in 
Florida, 258-262 ; the barge massacre, 260; General Jack- 
son ordered to Florida, 261 ; the Rhea letter, 262 ; the 
Floridian embroilment; Arbuthnot and Ambrister hanged, 
265-270; charges against General Jackson and his victory- 
over his accusers, 267-271 ; he travels North, 271 ; resigns his 
commission and is appointed Governor of Florida, 271 ; resigns 
his governorship and retires to private life, 272 ; politicians 
determined to utilize his overwhelming popularity, 272-73 ; 
he consents to enter the field, 273; the Presidential election 
of 1824; no election by the people; Adams elected by the 
House of Representatives, 279-280; Jackson's meeting with 
Adams the ensuing evening, 280 ; Jakson's tactics in the 






374 



Index, 



Presidential campaign of 1828; his election, 287 ; death of 
Mrs. Jackson, 289 ; his terrible grief, 289 ; his love for his 
wife, 291-92; effect of her death upon his public life, 291-93 ; 
Jackson's first inauguration, 294; fright of the officeholders, 
295 ; the President " renovates the public service," 296-98 ; the 
Mrs. Eaton scandal, 298-304 ; war upon the United States Bank, 
305-313; vetoes the Bank bill, 312 ; his toast at the Jefferson 
dinner, 314; he chooses a successor, 317 ; rupture with Cal- 
houn, 319; reorganizes his Cabinet, 319-20; re-nominated and 
re-elected in 1832,324-26; contest with the nuUifiers, 327- 
344 , his overwhelming preparations, 342 ; his Northern tour, 
347-49; difficulty. with France, 349-53; destroys the U. S. 
Bank, 353; attempt to assassinate him, 353; his last message, 
355 ; his unparalleled popularity and the reason for it, 355-57 ; 
his return home and his poverty, 357-58 ; he is converted 
and joins the church, 361-62; last days; his terrible 
sufferings, his patience and fortitude, 364-65 ; annoyed by 
office-seekers, 366 ; his last words, 367 ; his death, 367 ; 
the inscription upon his tomb, 368. 

JACKSON, MRS. ELIZABETH— Mother of Andrew. Lineage 
and character, 9-13; wants Andrew to be a minister, 12, 13, 
18 ; rescues her sons, 35-36 ; her death, 37. 

JACKSON, HUGH— Dies from exhaustion, 20. 

JACKSON, RACHEL— Wife of Andrew. Her admirable quali- 
ties as woman and wife, 99-102. 

JACKSON, ROBERT — Becomes a trooper, 22 ; taken prisoner 
26 ; dies of small pox, 36. 

lEFFERSON, THOMAS— Toast at Gen. Jackson's reception at 
-Lynchburg, 254-55; the original nullifier and the father of 
nullification, 334-35. 

JONES, AP CATESBY— Commands gun boats on Lake Borgne, 
187 ; his gallant defence and his capture, 192-93. 



KEANE, JOHN — British general at New Orleans, 195, 204, 238. 

KENDALL, AMOS — His influence with Jackson; friendly to 
Van Buren, 303. 

KING, RUFUS — U. S, Senator. Opposes the admission of Ten- 
nessee into the Union, 77. 



Index. 375 

LAFAYETTE, MARQUIS DE— Mrs. Jackson's description of 

him, 277-78 ; visits tiie Hermitage, 282. 
LAFITTE, JEAN— Famous smuggler and supposed pirate, 179. 
LAMBERT, JOHN— British general at New Orleans, 230, 242. 
LATOUR, MAJOR A. L.— Quotation from, 184; the little bugler, 

240. 
LAUSSAT, PIERRE CLEMENTS— French prefect at New 
Orleans. His opinion of Gov. Claiborne and Gen. Wilkinson, 

120-21. 
LAVACK— British officer. The only Briton that got over the 

American lines, 239. 
LAWRENCE, MAJOR WILLIAM— Defends Fort Bowyer, 174. 
LEDYARD, COLONEL WILLIAM— Murdered at Fort Gris- 

wold, 28. 

LEWIS, MAJOR WM. B.— Jackson's quartermaster. 133, 155; 
resolves to make General Jackson President, 275 ; his skill as 
a wire-puller, 276 ; is made an auditor of the Treasury, and 
lives in the White House, 297 ; his plot in favor of Van 
Buren as Jackson's successor, 317 ; closes the eyes of his old 
friend after Jackson's death, 367. 

LIVINGSTON, EDWARD— General Jackson's aid at New 
Orleans, 178, 183. 185 I Secretary of State, 320; minister to 

France, 350. 
LOCKYER, CAPTAIN NICOLAS— British Naval officer. Com- 

mander'of the attack on the American gun-boats, 193. 
LOUAILLIER, LOUIS— Arrested by order of Gen. Jackson, 

LOUIES* PHILIPPE— King of the French. His friendship for 
the United States, 349 J his friendly suggestion to President 
Jackson, 350. 

MADISON; JAMES— President of the United States, 173. 
MCLANE, LOUIS-Minister to England; Secretary of the 

i Treasury, 320. 

McNAIRY, JOHN— Appointed Judge, 49- . 

MARCY, WILLIAM L.-His notorious political sentiment, 322. 
MASON, JEREMIAH-President of U. S. Branch Bank at 
Portsmouth, N. H., 307. 



376 Index. 

MORGAN, GENERAL DAVID— Commanded on the West 
side of the Mississippi, at the Battle of New Orleans, 232, 
247. 

MULLINS, COLONEL— Commanded the British 44th, at the 
Battle of New Orleans, 231. 

NICHOLS, MAJOR EDWARD— Commands British troops at 

Appalachicola, 174. 
NULLIFICATION— Its rise and fall, 327. 

O'NEAL, PEGGY— See Eaton, Mrs. 

O'NEAL, WILLIAM.— Landlord of the Indian Queen Tavern, 

and father of Peggy O'Neal, successively Mrs. Timberlake 

and Mrs. Eaton, 299. 
OVERTON, THOMAS— His testimony as to Jackson's chastity, 

42 ; Jackson's second in the Dickinson duel, 109. 

PAKENHAM, GENERAL SIR EDWARD— Birth, 19 ; arrives 
at New Orleans, 213; his vigorous measures, 214 ; makes an 
unsuccessful demonstration on Jackson's Lines, 217-19; lays 
siege to Jackson's Lines and is defeated, 220-22 ; dishearten- 
ment of the British troops, 223 ; his preparations on the morn- 
ing of the battle of New Orleans, 228-29; his over confidence 
231 ; his gallantry in the battle, 237 ; his death, 238. 

PATTERSON, CAPTAIN DANIEL TOD— Commanded the 
Carolina, at New Orleans, 187, 206. 

PICKERING, TIMOTHY— His disunion sentiments, 245-46. 

POINSETT, JOEL R.— Jackson's confidential friend and corres- 
pondent in South Carolina, 341. 

PRESIDENT MAKING— The art of it, 274. 

QUINCY, JOSIAH— Incident at Harvard College, and his opin- 
ion of Jackson, 42-43 ; amusing anecdote, 347 ; Jackson's 
reception at Harvard, 348. 

RAWDON, LORD— Defeats Gen. Greene at Hobkirk's Hill, 33. 
RENNIE, COLONEL— British officer, 230; his gallantry and 
death, 238-39. 



Index, 377 

RHEA, JOHN — Member of Congress and Jackson's intimate 

friend, 262-63. 
RIVES, WILLIAM C— Minister to France, 349. 

SCOTCH-IRISH, The— 45-46. 

SERVOSS, THOMAS L.— Hastens a boat load of muskets down 
the Mississippi, 188. 

SMITH, H. K. — Entertains Jackson on his approach to New 
Orleans, 182. 

SMITH, JOHN— Senator from Ohio. Burr's accomplice, 116. 

STATE RIGHTS— The origin of the doctrine, 328. 

"SUBALTERN, THE."— Quotations from, 194-98; 218-19; 
221 ; his opinion of General Jackson, 247. 

SUMNER, PROF. WM. G.— Approves Jackson's Florida cam- 
paign in 1814, 175 ; his opinion of Jackson's dealing with the 
i civil service, 297-298 ; nullification, tariff, etc., 335-37. 

TANEY, ROGER B.— Appointed Attorney-General, 320. 

"TARIFF OF ABOMINATIONS,"— 337. 

TARLETON, COLONEL BANNASTRE— Raids the Waxhaw 

settlement, 21 ; his ravages, 28. 
THORNTON, WILLIAM— British Colonel at New Orleans, 

198, 230. 
TIMBERLAKE— A. purser in the U. S. Navy. Marries Peggy 

O'Neal ; cuts his throat, 299, 
TIMBERLAKE, PEGGY— See Eaton, Mrs. 
TRIST, NICHOLAS P.— Testimony as to 'ackson's character, 

42, 292, 364. 

UNION— The American, 328-339. 

VAN BUREN, MARTIN— Secretary of State, 295 ; resigns and 
is sent as Minister to England, 320 ; his nomination as 
minister rejected by the Senate. 321 ; elected vice-president, 
324-26; his inauguration as President, 355. 

VILLERE, MAJOR GABRIEL— He escapes from the British, 
197 ; his thrilling adventures, 198-201. 



*> 



y^ Index. 



WASHINGTON, GEORGE— His last annual speech to Con- 
gress, 79 ; Jackson's action on it, 80. 

WE ATHERSFORD— Indian chief. Captures Fort Mims, 149: 
his gallantry, 170; surrenders to Jackson 170. 

WEBSTER, DANIEL — Comments on General Jackson's popu- 
larity, 278 ; on the hungry aspect of the office-seekers, 294 ; 
on the effect of the Mrs. Eaton scandal, 303 ; debate with 
Hayne, 313. 

WILKINSON, GENERAL JAMES— In the pay of Spain, and 
an accomplice of Aaron Burr, 121 ; his behavior towards 
Jackson, 136-37 ; 140-41. 

WINCHESTER, JAMES— Brigadier-General in the U. S. Army, 

175. 
WIRT, WILLiAM — Presidential candidate in 1832, 324. 

WOODBURY. LEVI— Secretary of the Navy, 320. 



An Insignificant Woman. 



21 ^torjj of 2lrtist l\k. 

BY 

W. Heimburg. 

TRANSLATED FROM TJIE GERMAN 

By MARY STUART SMITH. 

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The Breach of Custom. 



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THE IMPROVISATORE; 

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A NEW NOVEL 

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THE BEADS OF TASMER. 

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